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DRAMATIS PERSONAE
CLAUDIUS king of
HAMLET son to the late, and nephew to the
present king.
POLONIUS lord chamberlain. (LORD POLONIUS:)
HORATIO friend to Hamlet.
LAERTES son to Polonius.
LUCIANUS nephew to the king.
VOLTIMAND |
|CORNELIUS |
ROSENCRANTZ | courtiers.
GUILDENSTERN |
|
OSRIC |
A Gentleman, (Gentlemen:)
A Priest. (First Priest:)
MARCELLUS |
|
officers.
BERNARDO |
FRANCISCO a soldier.
REYNALDO servant to Polonius.
Players.
(First Player:)
(Player King:)
(Player Queen:)
Two Clowns, grave-diggers.
(First Clown:)
(Second Clown:)
FORTINBRAS prince of
A Captain.
English Ambassadors. (First
Ambassador:)
GERTRUDE queen of
(QUEEN GERTRUDE:)
OPHELIA daughter to Polonius.
Lords, Ladies, Officers,
Soldiers, Sailors, Messengers,
and other Attendants. (Lord:)
(First Sailor:)
(Messenger:)
Ghost of Hamlet's Father.
(Ghost:)
SCENE
Традиционное
деление текста
по изданию 1676 г.
I акт Сцена 1 – эспланада перед замком Сцена 2 – зал в замке Сцена 3 – комната Сцена 4 – эспланада Сцена 5 – двор замка II акт Сцена 1 – комната Сцена 2 – зал в замке III акт Сцена 1 – зал в замке Сцена 2 – зал в замке Сцена 3 – комната
Сцена 4 – комната IV акт Сцена 1 – комната Сцена 2 – комната Сцена 3 – комната Сцена 4 – равнина Сцена 5 – комната Сцена 6 – комната Сцена 7 – комната V акт Сцена 1 – кладбище Сцена 2 – зал в замке |
Новое деление текста
I акт
Сцена 1 – эспланада перед замком Сцена 2 – зал в замке Сцена 3 – комната Полония Сцена 4 – эспланада Сцена 5 – двор замка II акт
Сцена 1 – комната Полония Сцена 2 – зал в замке Сцена 3 – зал в замке Сцена 4 – зал в замке Сцена 5 – комната короля Сцена 6 – комната королевы Сцена 7 – комната короля Сцена 8 – комната Гамлета Сцена 9 – комната короля Сцена 10 – равнина III акт
Сцена 1 – комната короля Сцена 2 – комната Горацио Сцена 3 – комната короля Сцена 4 – кладбище Сцена 5 – зал в замке |
[FRANCISCO
at his post. Enter to him BERNARDO]
BERNARDO Who's
there?
FRANCISCO Nay,
answer me: stand, and unfold yourself.
BERNARDO Long
live the king!
FRANCISCO Bernardo?
BERNARDO He.
FRANCISCO You
come most carefully upon your hour.
BERNARDO 'Tis
now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco.
FRANCISCO For
this relief much thanks: 'tis bitter cold,
And
I am sick at heart.
BERNARDO Have
you had quiet guard?
FRANCISCO Not
a mouse stirring.
BERNARDO Well,
good night.
If
you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,
The
rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.
FRANCISCO I
think I hear them. Stand, ho! Who's there?
[Enter
HORATIO and MARCELLUS]
HORATIO Friends
to this ground.
MARCELLUS And
liegemen to the Dane.
FRANCISCO Give
you good night.
MARCELLUS O,
farewell, honest soldier:
Who
hath relieved you?
FRANCISCO Bernardo
has my place.
Give
you good night.
[Exit]
MARCELLUS Holla!
Bernardo!
BERNARDO Say,
What,
is Horatio there?
HORATIO A
piece of him.
BERNARDO Welcome,
Horatio: welcome, good Marcellus.
MARCELLUS What,
has this thing appear'd again to-night?
BERNARDO I
have seen nothing.
MARCELLUS Horatio
says 'tis but our fantasy,
And
will not let belief take hold of him
Touching
this dreaded sight, twice seen of us:
Therefore
I have entreated him along
With
us to watch the minutes of this night;
That
if again this apparition come,
He
may approve our eyes and speak to it.
HORATIO Tush,
tush, 'twill not appear.
BERNARDO Sit
down awhile;
And
let us once again assail your ears,
That
are so fortified against our story
What
we have two nights seen.
HORATIO Well,
sit we down,
And
let us hear Bernardo speak of this.
BERNARDO Last
night of all,
When
yond same star that's westward from the pole
Had
made his course to illume that part of heaven
Where
now it burns, Marcellus and myself,
The
bell then beating one,--
[Enter
Ghost]
MARCELLUS Peace,
break thee off; look, where it comes again!
BERNARDO In
the same figure, like the king that's dead.
MARCELLUS Thou
art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio.
BERNARDO Looks
it not like the king? mark it, Horatio.
HORATIO Most
like: it harrows me with fear and wonder.
BERNARDO It
would be spoke to.
MARCELLUS Question
it, Horatio.
HORATIO What
art thou that usurp'st this time of night,
Together
with that fair and warlike form
In
which the majesty of buried
Did
sometimes march? by heaven I charge thee, speak!
MARCELLUS It
is offended.
BERNARDO See, it stalks away!
HORATIO Stay!
speak, speak! I charge thee, speak!
[Exit
Ghost]
MARCELLUS 'Tis
gone, and will not answer.
BERNARDO How
now, Horatio! you tremble and look pale:
Is
not this something more than fantasy?
What
think you on't?
HORATIO Before
my God, I might not this believe
Without
the sensible and true avouch
Of
mine own eyes.
MARCELLUS Is it not like the king?
HORATIO As
thou art to thyself:
Such
was the very armour he had on
When
he the ambitious
So
frown'd he once, when, in an angry parle,
He
smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.
'Tis
strange.
MARCELLUS Thus
twice before, and jump at this dead hour,
With
martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.
HORATIO In
what particular thought to work I know not;
But
in the gross and scope of my opinion,
This
bodes some strange eruption to our state.
MARCELLUS Good
now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows,
Why
this same strict and most observant watch
So
nightly toils the subject of the land,
And
why such daily cast of brazen cannon,
And
foreign mart for implements of war;
Why
such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task
Does
not divide the Sunday from the week;
What
might be toward, that this sweaty haste
Doth
make the night joint-labourer with the day:
Who
is't that can inform me?
HORATIO That
can I;
At
least, the whisper goes so. Our last king,
Whose
image even but now appear'd to us,
Was,
as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
Thereto
prick'd on by a most emulate pride,
Dared
to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet--
For
so this side of our known world esteem'd him--
Did
slay this Fortinbras; who by a seal'd compact,
Well
ratified by law and heraldry,
Did
forfeit, with his life, all those his lands
Which
he stood seized of, to the conqueror:
Against
the which, a moiety competent
Was
gaged by our king; which had return'd
To
the inheritance of Fortinbras,
Had
he been vanquisher; as, by the same covenant,
And
carriage of the article design'd,
His
fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,
Of
unimproved mettle hot and full,
Hath
in the skirts of
Shark'd
up a list of lawless resolutes,
For
food and diet, to some enterprise
That
hath a stomach in't; which is no other--
As
it doth well appear unto our state--
But
to recover of us, by strong hand
And
terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands
So
by his father lost: and this, I take it,
Is
the main motive of our preparations,
The
source of this our watch and the chief head
Of
this post-haste and romage in the land.
BERNARDO I
think it be no other but e'en so:
Well
may it sort that this portentous figure
Comes
armed through our watch; so like the king
That
was and is the question of these wars.
HORATIO A
mote it is to trouble the mind's eye.
In
the most high and palmy state of
A
little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
The
graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead
Did
squeak and gibber in the Roman streets:
As
stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,
Disasters
in the sun; and the moist star
Upon
whose influence
Was
sick almost to doomsday with eclipse:
And
even the like precurse of fierce events,
As
harbingers preceding still the fates
And
prologue to the omen coming on,
Have
heaven and earth together demonstrated
Unto
our climatures and countrymen.--
But
soft, behold! lo, where it comes again!
[Re-enter
Ghost]
I'll
cross it, though it blast me. Stay, illusion!
If
thou hast any sound, or use of voice,
Speak
to me:
If
there be any good thing to be done,
That
may to thee do ease and grace to me,
Speak
to me:
[Cock
crows]
If
thou art privy to thy country's fate,
Which,
happily, foreknowing may avoid, O, speak!
Or
if thou hast uphoarded in thy life
Extorted
treasure in the womb of earth,
For
which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,
Speak
of it: stay, and speak! Stop it, Marcellus.
MARCELLUS Shall
I strike at it with my partisan?
HORATIO Do,
if it will not stand.
BERNARDO 'Tis
here!
HORATIO 'Tis
here!
MARCELLUS 'Tis
gone!
[Exit
Ghost]
We
do it wrong, being so majestical,
To
offer it the show of violence;
For
it is, as the air, invulnerable,
And
our vain blows malicious mockery.
BERNARDO It
was about to speak, when the cock crew.
HORATIO And
then it started like a guilty thing
Upon
a fearful summons. I have heard,
The
cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,
Doth
with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat
Awake
the god of day; and, at his warning,
Whether
in sea or fire, in earth or air,
The
extravagant and erring spirit hies
To
his confine: and of the truth herein
This
present object made probation.
MARCELLUS It
faded on the crowing of the cock.
Some
say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein
our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The
bird of dawning singeth all night long:
And
then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad;
The
nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
No
fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So
hallow'd and so gracious is the time.
HORATIO So
have I heard and do in part believe it.
But,
look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,
Walks
o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill:
Break
we our watch up; and by my advice,
Let
us impart what we have seen to-night
Unto
young Hamlet; for, upon my life,
This
spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.
Do
you consent we shall acquaint him with it,
As
needful in our loves, fitting our duty?
MARCELLUS Let's
do't, I pray; and I this morning know
Where
we shall find him most conveniently.
[Exeunt]
A
room of state in the castle.
[Enter
KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, HAMLET,
POLONIUS,
LAERTES, VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, Lords,
and
Attendants]
KING CLAUDIUS Though
yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death
The
memory be green, and that it us befitted
To
bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom
To
be contracted in one brow of woe,
Yet
so far hath discretion fought with nature
That
we with wisest sorrow think on him,
Together
with remembrance of ourselves.
Therefore
our sometime sister, now our queen,
The
imperial jointress to this warlike state,
Have
we, as 'twere with a defeated joy,--
With
an auspicious and a dropping eye,
With
mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,
In
equal scale weighing delight and dole,--
Taken
to wife: nor have we herein barr'd
Your
better wisdoms, which have freely gone
With
this affair along. For all, our thanks.
Now
follows, that you know, young Fortinbras,
Holding
a weak supposal of our worth,
Or
thinking by our late dear brother's death
Our
state to be disjoint and out of frame,
Colleagued
with the dream of his advantage,
He
hath not fail'd to pester us with message,
Importing
the surrender of those lands
Lost
by his father, with all bonds of law,
To
our most valiant brother. So much for him.
Now
for ourself and for this time of meeting:
Thus
much the business is: we have here writ
To
Who,
impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears
Of
this his nephew's purpose,--to suppress
His
further gait herein; in that the levies,
The
lists and full proportions, are all made
Out
of his subject: and we here dispatch
You,
good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand,
For
bearers of this greeting to old
Giving
to you no further personal power
To
business with the king, more than the scope
Of
these delated articles allow.
Farewell,
and let your haste commend your duty.
CORNELIUS |
| In that and all things will we show our duty.
VOLTIMAND |
KING CLAUDIUS We
doubt it nothing: heartily farewell.
[Exeunt
VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS]
And
now, Laertes, what's the news with you?
You
told us of some suit; what is't, Laertes?
You
cannot speak of reason to the Dane,
And
loose your voice: what wouldst thou beg, Laertes,
That
shall not be my offer, not thy asking?
The
head is not more native to the heart,
The
hand more instrumental to the mouth,
Than
is the throne of
What
wouldst thou have, Laertes?
LAERTES My
dread lord,
Your
leave and favour to return to
From
whence though willingly I came to
To
show my duty in your coronation,
Yet
now, I must confess, that duty done,
My
thoughts and wishes bend again toward
And
bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.
KING CLAUDIUS Have
you your father's leave? What says Polonius?
LORD POLONIUS He
hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave
By
laboursome petition, and at last
Upon
his will I seal'd my hard consent:
I
do beseech you, give him leave to go.
KING CLAUDIUS Take
thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine,
And
thy best graces spend it at thy will!
But
now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son,--
HAMLET [Aside] A little more than kin, and less than kind.
KING CLAUDIUS How
is it that the clouds still hang on you?
HAMLET Not
so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun.
QUEEN GERTRUDE Good
Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off,
And
let thine eye look like a friend on
Do
not for ever with thy vailed lids
Seek
for thy noble father in the dust:
Thou
know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die,
Passing
through nature to eternity.
HAMLET Ay,
madam, it is common.
QUEEN GERTRUDE If
it be,
Why
seems it so particular with thee?
HAMLET Seems,
madam! nay it is; I know not 'seems.'
'Tis
not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor
customary suits of solemn black,
Nor
windy suspiration of forced breath,
No,
nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor
the dejected 'havior of the visage,
Together
with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,
That
can denote me truly: these indeed seem,
For
they are actions that a man might play:
But
I have that within which passeth show;
These
but the trappings and the suits of woe.
KING CLAUDIUS 'Tis
sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,
To
give these mourning duties to your father:
But,
you must know, your father lost a father;
That
father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound
In
filial obligation for some term
To
do obsequious sorrow: but to persever
In
obstinate condolement is a course
Of
impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief;
It
shows a will most incorrect to heaven,
A
heart unfortified, a mind impatient,
An
understanding simple and unschool'd:
For
what we know must be and is as common
As
any the most vulgar thing to sense,
Why
should we in our peevish opposition
Take
it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven,
A
fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
To
reason most absurd: whose common theme
Is
death of fathers, and who still hath cried,
From
the first corse till he that died to-day,
'This
must be so.' We pray you, throw to earth
This
unprevailing woe, and think of us
As
of a father: for let the world take note,
You
are the most immediate to our throne;
And
with no less nobility of love
Than
that which dearest father bears his son,
Do
I impart toward you. For your intent
In
going back to school in
It
is most retrograde to our desire:
And
we beseech you, bend you to remain
Here,
in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
Our
chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.
QUEEN GERTRUDE Let
not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet:
I
pray thee, stay with us; go not to
HAMLET I
shall in all my best obey you, madam.
KING CLAUDIUS Why,
'tis a loving and a fair reply:
Be
as ourself in
This
gentle and unforced accord of Hamlet
Sits
smiling to my heart: in grace whereof,
No
jocund health that
But
the great cannon to the clouds shall tell,
And
the king's rouse the heavens all bruit again,
Re-speaking
earthly thunder. Come away.
[Exeunt
all but HAMLET]
HAMLET O,
that this too too solid flesh would melt
Thaw
and resolve itself into a dew!
Or
that the Everlasting had not fix'd
His
canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God!
How
weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,
Seem
to me all the uses of this world!
Fie
on't! ah fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,
That
grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess
it merely. That it should come to this!
But
two months dead: nay, not so much, not two:
So
excellent a king; that was, to this,
Hyperion
to a satyr; so loving to my mother
That
he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit
her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!
Must
I remember? why, she would hang on him,
As
if increase of appetite had grown
By
what it fed on: and yet, within a month--
Let
me not think on't--Frailty, thy name is woman!--
A
little month, or ere those shoes were old
With
which she follow'd my poor father's body,
Like
Niobe, all tears:--why she, even she--
O,
God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,
Would
have mourn'd longer--married with my uncle,
My
father's brother, but no more like my father
Than
I to Hercules: within a month:
Ere
yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had
left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She
married. O, most wicked speed, to post
With
such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It
is not nor it cannot come to good:
But
break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue.
[Enter
HORATIO, MARCELLUS, and BERNARDO]
HORATIO Hail
to your lordship!
HAMLET I
am glad to see you well:
Horatio,--or
I do forget myself.
HORATIO The
same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.
HAMLET Sir,
my good friend; I'll change that name with you:
And
what make you from
MARCELLUS My
good lord--
HAMLET I
am very glad to see you. Good even, sir.
But
what, in faith, make you from
HORATIO A
truant disposition, good my lord.
HAMLET I
would not hear your enemy say so,
Nor
shall you do mine ear that violence,
To
make it truster of your own report
Against
yourself: I know you are no truant.
But
what is your affair in
We'll
teach you to drink deep ere you depart.
HORATIO My
lord, I came to see your father's funeral.
HAMLET I
pray thee, do not mock me, fellow-student;
I
think it was to see my mother's wedding.
HORATIO Indeed,
my lord, it follow'd hard upon.
HAMLET Thrift,
thrift, Horatio! the funeral baked meats
Did
coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.
Would
I had met my dearest foe in heaven
Or
ever I had seen that day, Horatio!
My
father!--methinks I see my father.
HORATIO Where,
my lord?
HAMLET In my mind's eye, Horatio.
HORATIO I
saw him once; he was a goodly king.
HAMLET He
was a man, take him for all in all,
I
shall not look upon his like again.
HORATIO My
lord, I think I saw him yesternight.
HAMLET Saw?
who?
HORATIO My
lord, the king your father.
HAMLET The
king my father!
HORATIO Season
your admiration for awhile
With
an attent ear, till I may deliver,
Upon
the witness of these gentlemen,
This
marvel to you.
HAMLET For
God's love, let me hear.
HORATIO Two
nights together had these gentlemen,
Marcellus
and Bernardo, on their watch,
In
the dead vast and middle of the night,
Been
thus encounter'd. A figure like your father,
Armed
at point exactly, cap-a-pe,
Appears
before them, and with solemn march
Goes
slow and stately by them: thrice he walk'd
By
their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes,
Within
his truncheon's length; whilst they, distilled
Almost
to jelly with the act of fear,
Stand
dumb and speak not to him. This to me
In
dreadful secrecy impart they did;
And
I with them the third night kept the watch;
Where,
as they had deliver'd, both in time,
Form
of the thing, each word made true and good,
The
apparition comes: I knew your father;
These
hands are not more like.
HAMLET But
where was this?
MARCELLUS My
lord, upon the platform where we watch'd.
HAMLET Did
you not speak to it?
HORATIO My
lord, I did;
But
answer made it none: yet once methought
It
lifted up its head and did address
Itself
to motion, like as it would speak;
But
even then the morning cock crew loud,
And
at the sound it shrunk in haste away,
And
vanish'd from our sight.
HAMLET 'Tis
very strange.
HORATIO As
I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis true;
And
we did think it writ down in our duty
To
let you know of it.
HAMLET Indeed,
indeed, sirs, but this troubles me.
Hold
you the watch to-night?
MARCELLUS |
| We do, my lord.
BERNARDO |
HAMLET Arm'd,
say you?
MARCELLUS |
| Arm'd, my lord.
BERNARDO |
HAMLET From
top to toe?
MARCELLUS |
| My lord, from head to foot.
BERNARDO |
HAMLET Then
saw you not his face?
HORATIO O,
yes, my lord; he wore his beaver up.
HAMLET What,
look'd he frowningly?
HORATIO A
countenance more in sorrow than in anger.
HAMLET Pale
or red?
HORATIO Nay,
very pale.
HAMLET And fix'd his eyes upon you?
HORATIO Most
constantly.
HAMLET I would I had been there.
HORATIO It
would have much amazed you.
HAMLET Very
like, very like. Stay'd it long?
HORATIO While
one with moderate haste might tell a hundred.
MARCELLUS |
|
Longer, longer.
BERNARDO |
HORATIO Not
when I saw't.
HAMLET His beard was grizzled--no?
HORATIO It
was, as I have seen it in his life,
A
sable silver'd.
HAMLET I will watch to-night;
Perchance
'twill walk again.
HORATIO I
warrant it will.
HAMLET If
it assume my noble father's person,
I'll
speak to it, though hell itself should gape
And
bid me hold my peace. I pray you all,
If
you have hitherto conceal'd this sight,
Let
it be tenable in your silence still;
And
whatsoever else shall hap to-night,
Give
it an understanding, but no tongue:
I
will requite your loves. So, fare you well:
Upon
the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve,
I'll
visit you.
All Our duty to your honour.
HAMLET Your
loves, as mine to you: farewell.
[Exeunt
all but HAMLET]
My
father's spirit in arms! all is not well;
I
doubt some foul play: would the night were come!
Till
then sit still, my soul: foul deeds will rise,
Though
all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.
[Exit]
A
room in Polonius' house.
[Enter
LAERTES and OPHELIA]
LAERTES My
necessaries are embark'd: farewell:
And,
sister, as the winds give benefit
And
convoy is assistant, do not sleep,
But
let me hear from you.
OPHELIA Do
you doubt that?
LAERTES For
Hamlet and the trifling of his favour,
Hold
it a fashion and a toy in blood,
A
violet in the youth of primy nature,
Forward,
not permanent, sweet, not lasting,
The
perfume and suppliance of a minute; No more.
OPHELIA No more but so?
LAERTES Think
it no more;
For
nature, crescent, does not grow alone
In
thews and bulk, but, as this temple waxes,
The
inward service of the mind and soul
Grows
wide withal. Perhaps he loves you now,
And
now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch
The
virtue of his will: but you must fear,
His
greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own;
For
he himself is subject to his birth:
He
may not, as unvalued persons do,
Carve
for himself; for on his choice depends
The
safety and health of this whole state;
And
therefore must his choice be circumscribed
Unto
the voice and yielding of that body
Whereof
he is the head. Then if he says he loves you,
It
fits your wisdom so far to believe it
As
he in his particular act and place
May
give his saying deed; which is no further
Than
the main voice of
Then
weigh what loss your honour may sustain,
If
with too credent ear you list his songs,
Or
lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
To
his unmaster'd importunity.
Fear
it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister,
And
keep you in the rear of your affection,
Out
of the shot and danger of desire.
The
chariest maid is prodigal enough,
If
she unmask her beauty to the moon:
Virtue
itself 'scapes not calumnious strokes:
The
canker galls the infants of the spring,
Too
oft before their buttons be disclosed,
And
in the morn and liquid dew of youth
Contagious
blastments are most imminent.
Be
wary then; best safety lies in fear:
Youth
to itself rebels, though none else near.
OPHELIA I
shall the effect of this good lesson keep,
As
watchman to my heart. But, good my brother,
Do
not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show
me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
Whiles,
like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself
the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And
recks not his own rede.
LAERTES O,
fear me not.
I
stay too long: but here my father comes.
[Enter
POLONIUS]
A
double blessing is a double grace,
Occasion
smiles upon a second leave.
LORD POLONIUS Yet
here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame!
The
wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And
you are stay'd for. There; my blessing with thee!
And
these few precepts in thy memory
See
thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor
any unproportioned thought his act.
Be
thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those
friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple
them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But
do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of
each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Beware
Of
entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear't
that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give
every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take
each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly
thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But
not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For
the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And
they in
Are
of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither
a borrower nor a lender be;
For
loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And
borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This
above all: to thine ownself be true,
And
it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou
canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell:
my blessing season this in thee!
LAERTES Most
humbly do I take my leave, my lord.
LORD POLONIUS The
time invites you; go; your servants tend.
LAERTES Farewell,
Ophelia; and remember well
What
I have said to you.
OPHELIA 'Tis
in my memory lock'd,
And
you yourself shall keep the key of it.
LAERTES Farewell.
[Exit]
LORD POLONIUS What
is't, Ophelia, be hath said to you?
OPHELIA So
please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet.
LORD POLONIUS Marry,
well bethought:
'Tis
told me, he hath very oft of late
Given
private time to you; and you yourself
Have
of your audience been most free and bounteous:
If
it be so, as so 'tis put on me,
And
that in way of caution, I must tell you,
You
do not understand yourself so clearly
As
it behoves my daughter and your honour.
What
is between you? give me up the truth.
OPHELIA He
hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
Of
his affection to me.
LORD POLONIUS Affection!
pooh! you speak like a green girl,
Unsifted
in such perilous circumstance.
Do
you believe his tenders, as you call them?
OPHELIA I
do not know, my lord, what I should think.
LORD POLONIUS Marry,
I'll teach you: think yourself a baby;
That
you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,
Which
are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly;
Or--not
to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Running
it thus--you'll tender me a fool.
OPHELIA My
lord, he hath importuned me with love
In
honourable fashion.
LORD POLONIUS Ay,
fashion you may call it; go to, go to.
OPHELIA And
hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,
With
almost all the holy vows of heaven.
LORD POLONIUS Ay,
springes to catch woodcocks. I do know,
When
the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
Lends
the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,
Even
in their promise, as it is a-making,
You
must not take for fire. From this time
Be
somewhat scanter of your maiden presence;
Set
your entreatments at a higher rate
Than
a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,
Believe
so much in him, that he is young
And
with a larger tether may he walk
Than
may be given you: in few, Ophelia,
Do
not believe his vows; for they are brokers,
Not
of that dye which their investments show,
But
mere implorators of unholy suits,
Breathing
like sanctified and pious bawds,
The
better to beguile. This is for all:
I
would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have
you so slander any moment leisure,
As
to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look
to't, I charge you: come your ways.
OPHELIA I
shall obey, my lord.
[Exeunt]
The
platform.
[Enter
HAMLET, HORATIO, and MARCELLUS]
HAMLET The
air bites shrewdly; it is very cold.
HORATIO It
is a nipping and an eager air.
HAMLET What
hour now?
HORATIO I think it lacks of twelve.
HAMLET No,
it is struck.
HORATIO Indeed?
I heard it not: then it draws near the season
Wherein
the spirit held his wont to walk.
[A
flourish of trumpets, and ordnance shot off, within]
What
does this mean, my lord?
HAMLET The
king doth wake to-night and takes his rouse,
Keeps
wassail, and the swaggering up-spring reels;
And,
as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down,
The
kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out
The
triumph of his pledge.
HORATIO Is
it a custom?
HAMLET Ay,
marry, is't:
But
to my mind, though I am native here
And
to the manner born, it is a custom
More
honour'd in the breach than the observance.
This
heavy-headed revel east and west
Makes
us traduced and tax'd of other nations:
They
clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase
Soil
our addition; and indeed it takes
From
our achievements, though perform'd at height,
The
pith and marrow of our attribute.
So,
oft it chances in particular men,
That
for some vicious mole of nature in them,
As,
in their birth--wherein they are not guilty,
Since
nature cannot choose his origin--
By
the o'ergrowth of some complexion,
Oft
breaking down the pales and forts of reason,
Or
by some habit that too much o'er-leavens
The
form of plausive manners, that these men,
Carrying,
I say, the stamp of one defect,
Being
nature's livery, or fortune's star,--
Their
virtues else--be they as pure as grace,
As
infinite as man may undergo--
Shall
in the general censure take corruption
From
that particular fault: the dram of eale
Doth
all the noble substance of a doubt
To
his own scandal.
HORATIO Look,
my lord, it comes!
[Enter
Ghost]
HAMLET Angels
and ministers of grace defend us!
Be
thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd,
Bring
with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
Be
thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou
comest in such a questionable shape
That
I will speak to thee: I'll call thee Hamlet,
King,
father, royal Dane: O, answer me!
Let
me not burst in ignorance; but tell
Why
thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,
Have
burst their cerements; why the sepulchre,
Wherein
we saw thee quietly inurn'd,
Hath
oped his ponderous and marble jaws,
To
cast thee up again. What may this mean,
That
thou, dead corse, again in complete steel
Revisit'st
thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making
night hideous; and we fools of nature
So
horridly to shake our disposition
With
thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say,
why is this? wherefore? what should we do?
[Ghost
beckons HAMLET]
HORATIO It
beckons you to go away with it,
As
if it some impartment did desire
To
you alone.
MARCELLUS Look, with what courteous
action
It
waves you to a more removed ground:
But
do not go with it.
HORATIO No,
by no means.
HAMLET It
will not speak; then I will follow it.
HORATIO Do
not, my lord.
HAMLET Why, what should be the fear?
I
do not set my life in a pin's fee;
And
for my soul, what can it do to that,
Being
a thing immortal as itself?
It
waves me forth again: I'll follow it.
HORATIO What
if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,
Or
to the dreadful summit of the cliff
That
beetles o'er his base into the sea,
And
there assume some other horrible form,
Which
might deprive your sovereignty of reason
And
draw you into madness? think of it:
The
very place puts toys of desperation,
Without
more motive, into every brain
That
looks so many fathoms to the sea
And
hears it roar beneath.
HAMLET It
waves me still.
Go
on; I'll follow thee.
MARCELLUS You
shall not go, my lord.
HAMLET Hold
off your hands.
HORATIO Be
ruled; you shall not go.
HAMLET My
fate cries out,
And
makes each petty artery in this body
As
hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.
Still
am I call'd. Unhand me, gentlemen.
By
heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me!
I
say, away! Go on; I'll follow thee.
[Exeunt
Ghost and HAMLET]
HORATIO He
waxes desperate with imagination.
MARCELLUS Let's
follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him.
HORATIO Have
after. To what issue will this come?
MARCELLUS Something
is rotten in the state of
HORATIO Heaven
will direct it.
MARCELLUS Nay,
let's follow him.
[Exeunt]
Another
part of the platform.
[Enter
GHOST and HAMLET]
HAMLET Where
wilt thou lead me? speak; I'll go no further.
Ghost Mark
me.
HAMLET I will.
Ghost My hour is almost come,
When
I to sulphurous and tormenting flames
Must
render up myself.
HAMLET Alas,
poor ghost!
Ghost Pity
me not, but lend thy serious hearing
To
what I shall unfold.
HAMLET Speak;
I am bound to hear.
Ghost So
art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.
HAMLET What?
Ghost I am
thy father's spirit,
Doom'd
for a certain term to walk the night,
And
for the day confined to fast in fires,
Till
the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are
burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
To
tell the secrets of my prison-house,
I
could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would
harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make
thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy
knotted and combined locks to part
And
each particular hair to stand on end,
Like
quills upon the fretful porpentine:
But
this eternal blazon must not be
To
ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list!
If
thou didst ever thy dear father love--
HAMLET O
God!
Ghost Revenge
his foul and most unnatural murder.
HAMLET Murder!
Ghost Murder
most foul, as in the best it is;
But
this most foul, strange and unnatural.
HAMLET Haste
me to know't, that I, with wings as swift
As
meditation or the thoughts of love,
May
sweep to my revenge.
Ghost I
find thee apt;
And
duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed
That
roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,
Wouldst
thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:
'Tis
given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
A
serpent stung me; so the whole ear of
Is
by a forged process of my death
Rankly
abused: but know, thou noble youth,
The
serpent that did sting thy father's life
Now
wears his crown.
HAMLET O
my prophetic soul! My uncle!
Ghost Ay,
that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With
witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,--
O
wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
So
to seduce!--won to his shameful lust
The
will of my most seeming-virtuous queen:
O
Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!
From
me, whose love was of that dignity
That
it went hand in hand even with the vow
I
made to her in marriage, and to decline
Upon
a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To
those of mine!
But
virtue, as it never will be moved,
Though
lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
So
lust, though to a radiant angel link'd,
Will sate itself in a celestial
bed,
And
prey on garbage.
But,
soft! methinks I scent the morning air;
Brief
let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,
My
custom always of the afternoon,
Upon
my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With
juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,
And
in the porches of my ears did pour
The
leperous distilment; whose effect
Holds
such an enmity with blood of man
That
swift as quicksilver it courses through
The
natural gates and alleys of the body,
And
with a sudden vigour doth posset
And
curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The
thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine;
And
a most instant tetter bark'd about,
Most
lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All
my smooth body.
Thus
was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand
Of
life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd:
Cut
off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhousel'd,
disappointed, unanel'd,
No
reckoning made, but sent to my account
With
all my imperfections on my head:
O,
horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!
If
thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
Let
not the royal bed of
A
couch for luxury and damned incest.
But,
howsoever thou pursuest this act,
Taint
not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against
thy mother aught: leave her to heaven
And
to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To
prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
The
glow-worm shows the matin to be near,
And
'gins to pale his uneffectual fire:
Adieu,
adieu! Hamlet, remember me.
[Exit]
HAMLET O
all you host of heaven! O earth! what else?
And
shall I couple hell? O, fie! Hold, hold, my heart;
And
you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
But
bear me stiffly up. Remember thee!
Ay,
thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat
In
this distracted globe. Remember thee!
Yea,
from the table of my memory
I'll
wipe away all trivial fond records,
All
saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
That
youth and observation copied there;
And
thy commandment all alone shall live
Within
the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix'd
with baser matter: yes, by heaven!
O
most pernicious woman!
O
villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!
My
tables,--meet it is I set it down,
That
one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;
At
least I'm sure it may be so in
[Writing]
So,
uncle, there you are. Now to my word;
It
is 'Adieu, adieu! remember me.'
I
have sworn 't.
MARCELLUS |
|
[Within] My lord, my lord,--
HORATIO |
MARCELLUS [Within] Lord Hamlet,--
HORATIO [Within] Heaven secure him!
HAMLET So
be it!
HORATIO [Within] Hillo, ho, ho, my lord!
HAMLET Hillo,
ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come.
[Enter
HORATIO and MARCELLUS]
MARCELLUS How
is't, my noble lord?
HORATIO What
news, my lord?
HAMLET O,
wonderful!
HORATIO Good my lord, tell it.
HAMLET No;
you'll reveal it.
HORATIO Not
I, my lord, by heaven.
MARCELLUS Nor
I, my lord.
HAMLET How
say you, then; would heart of man once think it?
But
you'll be secret?
HORATIO |
| Ay, by heaven, my lord.
MARCELLUS |
HAMLET There's
ne'er a villain dwelling in all
But
he's an arrant knave.
HORATIO There
needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave
To
tell us this.
HAMLET Why, right; you are i' the
right;
And
so, without more circumstance at all,
I
hold it fit that we shake hands and part:
You,
as your business and desire shall point you;
For
every man has business and desire,
Such
as it is; and for mine own poor part,
Look
you, I'll go pray.
HORATIO These
are but wild and whirling words, my lord.
HAMLET I'm
sorry they offend you, heartily;
Yes,
'faith heartily.
HORATIO There's
no offence, my lord.
HAMLET Yes,
by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,
And
much offence too. Touching this vision here,
It
is an honest ghost, that let me tell you:
For
your desire to know what is between us,
O'ermaster
't as you may. And now, good friends,
As
you are friends, scholars and soldiers,
Give
me one poor request.
HORATIO What
is't, my lord? we will.
HAMLET Never
make known what you have seen to-night.
HORATIO |
|
My lord, we will not.
MARCELLUS |
HAMLET Nay,
but swear't.
HORATIO In
faith,
My
lord, not I.
MARCELLUS Nor I, my lord, in faith.
HAMLET Upon
my sword.
MARCELLUS We have sworn, my lord,
already.
HAMLET Indeed,
upon my sword, indeed.
Ghost [Beneath] Swear.
HAMLET Ah,
ha, boy! say'st thou so? art thou there,
truepenny?
Come
on--you hear this fellow in the cellarage--
Consent
to swear.
HORATIO Propose the oath, my lord.
HAMLET Never
to speak of this that you have seen,
Swear
by my sword.
Ghost [Beneath] Swear.
HAMLET Hic
et ubique? then we'll shift our ground.
Come
hither, gentlemen,
And
lay your hands again upon my sword:
Never
to speak of this that you have heard,
Swear
by my sword.
Ghost [Beneath] Swear.
HAMLET Well
said, old mole! canst work i' the earth so fast?
A
worthy pioner! Once more remove, good friends.
HORATIO O
day and night, but this is wondrous strange!
HAMLET And
therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
There
are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than
are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come;
Here,
as before, never, so help you mercy,
How
strange or odd soe'er I bear myself,
As
I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To
put an antic disposition on,
That
you, at such times seeing me, never shall,
With
arms encumber'd thus, or this headshake,
Or
by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,
As
'Well, well, we know,' or 'We could, an if we would,'
Or
'If we list to speak,' or 'There be, an if they might,'
Or
such ambiguous giving out, to note
That
you know aught of me: this not to do,
So
grace and mercy at your most need help you, Swear.
Ghost [Beneath] Swear.
HAMLET Rest,
rest, perturbed spirit!
[They
swear]
So, gentlemen,
With
all my love I do commend me to you:
And
what so poor a man as Hamlet is
May
do, to express his love and friending to you,
God
willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together;
And
still your fingers on your lips, I pray.
The
time is out of joint: O cursed spite,
That
ever I was born to set it right!
Nay,
come, let's go together.
[Exeunt]
A
room in POLONIUS' house.
[Enter
POLONIUS and REYNALDO]
LORD POLONIUS Give
him this money and these notes, Reynaldo.
REYNALDO I
will, my lord.
LORD POLONIUS You
shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo,
Before
you visit him, to make inquire
Of
his behavior.
REYNALDO My lord, I did intend it.
LORD POLONIUS Marry,
well said; very well said. Look you, sir,
Inquire
me first what Danskers are in
And
how, and who, what means, and where they keep,
What
company, at what expense; and finding
By
this encompassment and drift of question
That
they do know my son, come you more nearer
Than
your particular demands will touch it:
Take
you, as 'twere, some distant knowledge of him;
As
thus, 'I know his father and his friends,
And
in part him: ' do you mark this, Reynaldo?
REYNALDO Ay,
very well, my lord.
LORD POLONIUS 'And
in part him; but' you may say 'not well:
But,
if't be he I mean, he's very wild;
Addicted
so and so:' and there put on him
What
forgeries you please; marry, none so rank
As
may dishonour him; take heed of that;
But,
sir, such wanton, wild and usual slips
As
are companions noted and most known
To
youth and liberty.
REYNALDO As
gaming, my lord.
LORD POLONIUS Ay,
or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarrelling,
Drabbing:
you may go so far.
REYNALDO My
lord, that would dishonour him.
LORD POLONIUS 'Faith,
no; as you may season it in the charge
You
must not put another scandal on him,
That
he is open to incontinency;
That's
not my meaning: but breathe his faults so quaintly
That
they may seem the taints of liberty,
The
flash and outbreak of a fiery mind,
A
savageness in unreclaimed blood,
Of
general assault.
REYNALDO But,
my good lord,--
LORD POLONIUS Wherefore
should you do this?
REYNALDO Ay,
my lord,
I
would know that.
LORD POLONIUS Marry, sir, here's my drift;
And
I believe, it is a fetch of wit:
You
laying these slight sullies on my son,
As
'twere a thing a little soil'd i' the working, Mark you,
Your
party in converse, him you would sound,
Having
ever seen in the prenominate crimes
The
youth you breathe of guilty, be assured
He
closes with you in this consequence;
'Good
sir,' or so, or 'friend,' or 'gentleman,'
According
to the phrase or the addition
Of
man and country.
REYNALDO Very
good, my lord.
LORD POLONIUS And
then, sir, does he this--he does--what was I
about
to say? By the mass, I was about to say
something:
where did I leave?
REYNALDO At
'closes in the consequence,' at 'friend or so,'
and
'gentleman.'
LORD POLONIUS At
'closes in the consequence,' ay, marry;
He
closes thus: 'I know the gentleman;
I
saw him yesterday, or t' other day,
Or
then, or then; with such, or such; and, as you say,
There
was a' gaming; there o'ertook in's rouse;
There
falling out at tennis:' or perchance,
'I
saw him enter such a house of sale,'
Videlicet,
a brothel, or so forth.
See
you now;
Your
bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth:
And
thus do we of wisdom and of reach,
With
windlasses and with assays of bias,
By
indirections find directions out:
So
by my former lecture and advice,
Shall
you my son. You have me, have you not?
REYNALDO My
lord, I have.
LORD POLONIUS God be wi' you; fare you
well.
REYNALDO Good
my lord!
LORD POLONIUS Observe
his inclination in yourself.
REYNALDO I
shall, my lord.
LORD POLONIUS And
let him ply his music.
REYNALDO Well,
my lord.
LORD POLONIUS Farewell!
[Exit
REYNALDO]
[Enter
OPHELIA]
How
now, Ophelia! what's the matter?
OPHELIA O,
my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted!
LORD POLONIUS With
what, i' the name of God?
OPHELIA My
lord, as I was sewing in my closet,
Lord
Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced;
No
hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd,
Ungarter'd,
and down-gyved to his ancle;
Pale
as his shirt; his knees knocking each other;
And
with a look so piteous in purport
As
if he had been loosed out of hell
To
speak of horrors,--he comes before me.
LORD POLONIUS Mad
for thy love?
OPHELIA My lord, I do not know;
But
truly, I do fear it.
LORD POLONIUS What
said he?
OPHELIA He
took me by the wrist and held me hard;
Then
goes he to the length of all his arm;
And,
with his other hand thus o'er his brow,
He
falls to such perusal of my face
As
he would draw it. Long stay'd he so;
At
last, a little shaking of mine arm
And
thrice his head thus waving up and down,
He
raised a sigh so piteous and profound
As
it did seem to shatter all his bulk
And
end his being: that done, he lets me go:
And,
with his head over his shoulder turn'd,
He
seem'd to find his way without his eyes;
For
out o' doors he went without their helps,
And,
to the last, bended their light on me.
LORD POLONIUS Come,
go with me: I will go seek the king.
This
is the very ecstasy of love,
Whose
violent property fordoes itself
And
leads the will to desperate undertakings
As
oft as any passion under heaven
That
does afflict our natures. I am sorry.
What,
have you given him any hard words of late?
OPHELIA No,
my good lord, but, as you did command,
I
did repel his fetters and denied
His
access to me.
LORD POLONIUS That hath made him mad.
I
am sorry that with better heed and judgment
I
had not quoted him: I fear'd he did but trifle,
And
meant to wreck thee; but, beshrew my jealousy!
By
heaven, it is as proper to our age
To
cast beyond ourselves in our opinions
As
it is common for the younger sort
To
lack discretion. Come, go we to the king:
This
must be known; which, being kept close, might
move
More
grief to hide than hate to utter love.
[Exeunt]
ACT II SCENE II
A
room in the castle.
[Enter
KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, ROSENCRANTZ,
GUILDENSTERN,
and Attendants]
KING CLAUDIUS Welcome,
dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern!
Moreover
that we much did long to see you,
The
need we have to use you did provoke
Our
hasty sending. Something have you heard
Of
Hamlet's transformation; so call it,
Sith
nor the exterior nor the inward man
Resembles
that it was. What it should be,
More
than his father's death, that thus hath put him
So
much from the understanding of himself,
I
cannot dream of: I entreat you both,
That,
being of so young days brought up with him,
And
sith so neighbour'd to his youth and havior,
That
you vouchsafe your rest here in our court
Some
little time: so by your companies
To
draw him on to pleasures, and to gather,
So
much as from occasion you may glean,
Whether
aught, to us unknown, afflicts him thus,
That,
open'd, lies within our remedy.
QUEEN GERTRUDE Good
gentlemen, he hath much talk'd of you;
And
sure I am two men there are not living
To
whom he more adheres. If it will please you
To
show us so much gentry and good will
As
to expend your time with us awhile,
For
the supply and profit of our hope,
Your
visitation shall receive such thanks
As
fits a king's remembrance.
ROSENCRANTZ Both
your majesties
Might,
by the sovereign power you have of us,
Put
your dread pleasures more into command
Than
to entreaty.
GUILDENSTERN But we both obey,
And
here give up ourselves, in the full bent
To
lay our service freely at your feet,
To
be commanded.
KING CLAUDIUS Thanks,
Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern.
QUEEN GERTRUDE Thanks,
Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz:
And
I beseech you instantly to visit
My
too much changed son. Go, some of you,
And
bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is.
GUILDENSTERN Heavens
make our presence and our practises
Pleasant
and helpful to him!
QUEEN GERTRUDE Ay,
amen!
[Exeunt
ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and some
Attendants]
[Enter
POLONIUS]
LORD POLONIUS The
ambassadors from
Are
joyfully return'd.
KING CLAUDIUS Thou
still hast been the father of good news.
LORD POLONIUS Have
I, my lord? I assure my good liege,
I
hold my duty, as I hold my soul,
Both
to my God and to my gracious king:
And
I do think, or else this brain of mine
Hunts
not the trail of policy so sure
As
it hath used to do, that I have found
The
very cause of Hamlet's lunacy.
KING CLAUDIUS O,
speak of that; that do I long to hear.
LORD POLONIUS Give
first admittance to the ambassadors;
My
news shall be the fruit to that great feast.
KING CLAUDIUS Thyself
do grace to them, and bring them in.
[Exit
POLONIUS]
He
tells me, my dear Gertrude, he hath found
The
head and source of all your son's distemper.
QUEEN GERTRUDE I
doubt it is no other but the main;
His
father's death, and our o'erhasty marriage.
KING CLAUDIUS Well,
we shall sift him.
[Re-enter
POLONIUS, with VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS]
Welcome, my good friends!
Say,
Voltimand, what from our brother
VOLTIMAND Most
fair return of greetings and desires.
Upon
our first, he sent out to suppress
His
nephew's levies; which to him appear'd
To
be a preparation 'gainst the Polack;
But,
better look'd into, he truly found
It
was against your highness: whereat grieved,
That
so his sickness, age and impotence
Was
falsely borne in hand, sends out arrests
On
Fortinbras; which he, in brief, obeys;
Receives
rebuke from
Makes
vow before his uncle never more
To
give the assay of arms against your majesty.
Whereon
old
Gives
him three thousand crowns in annual fee,
And
his commission to employ those soldiers,
So
levied as before, against the Polack:
With
an entreaty, herein further shown,
[Giving
a paper]
That
it might please you to give quiet pass
Through
your dominions for this enterprise,
On
such regards of safety and allowance
As
therein are set down.
KING CLAUDIUS It
likes us well;
And
at our more consider'd time well read,
Answer,
and think upon this business.
Meantime
we thank you for your well-took labour:
Go
to your rest; at night we'll feast together:
Most
welcome home!
[Exeunt
VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS]
LORD POLONIUS This business is well ended.
My
liege, and madam, to expostulate
What
majesty should be, what duty is,
Why
day is day, night night, and time is time,
Were
nothing but to waste night, day and time.
Therefore,
since brevity is the soul of wit,
And
tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I
will be brief: your noble son is mad:
Mad
call I it; for, to define true madness,
What
is't but to be nothing else but mad?
But
let that go.
QUEEN GERTRUDE More matter, with less art.
LORD POLONIUS Madam,
I swear I use no art at all.
That
he is mad, 'tis true: 'tis true 'tis pity;
And
pity 'tis 'tis true: a foolish figure;
But
farewell it, for I will use no art.
Mad
let us grant him, then: and now remains
That
we find out the cause of this effect,
Or
rather say, the cause of this defect,
For
this effect defective comes by cause:
Thus
it remains, and the remainder thus. Perpend.
I
have a daughter--have while she is mine--
Who,
in her duty and obedience, mark,
Hath
given me this: now gather, and surmise.
[Reads]
'To
the celestial and my soul's idol, the most
beautified
Ophelia,'--
That's
an ill phrase, a vile phrase; 'beautified' is
a
vile phrase: but you shall hear. Thus:
[Reads]
'In
her excellent white bosom, these, &c.'
QUEEN GERTRUDE Came
this from Hamlet to her?
LORD POLONIUS Good
madam, stay awhile; I will be faithful.
[Reads]
'Doubt
thou the stars are fire;
Doubt
that the sun doth move;
Doubt
truth to be a liar;
But
never doubt I love.
'O
dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers;
I
have not art to reckon my groans: but that
I
love thee best, O most best, believe it. Adieu.
'Thine
evermore most dear lady, whilst
this
machine is to him, HAMLET.'
This,
in obedience, hath my daughter shown me,
And
more above, hath his solicitings,
As
they fell out by time, by means and place,
All
given to mine ear.
KING CLAUDIUS But
how hath she
Received
his love?
LORD POLONIUS What do you think of me?
KING CLAUDIUS As
of a man faithful and honourable.
LORD POLONIUS I
would fain prove so. But what might you think,
When
I had seen this hot love on the wing--
As
I perceived it, I must tell you that,
Before
my daughter told me--what might you,
Or
my dear majesty your queen here, think,
If
I had play'd the desk or table-book,
Or
given my heart a winking, mute and dumb,
Or
look'd upon this love with idle sight;
What
might you think? No, I went round to work,
And
my young mistress thus I did bespeak:
'Lord
Hamlet is a prince, out of thy star;
This
must not be:' and then I precepts gave her,
That
she should lock herself from his resort,
Admit
no messengers, receive no tokens.
Which
done, she took the fruits of my advice;
And
he, repulsed--a short tale to make--
Fell
into a sadness, then into a fast,
Thence
to a watch, thence into a weakness,
Thence
to a lightness, and, by this declension,
Into
the madness wherein now he raves,
And
all we mourn for.
KING CLAUDIUS Do
you think 'tis this?
QUEEN GERTRUDE It
may be, very likely.
LORD POLONIUS Hath
there been such a time--I'd fain know that--
That
I have positively said 'Tis so,'
When
it proved otherwise?
KING CLAUDIUS Not
that I know.
LORD POLONIUS [Pointing
to his head and shoulder]
Take
this from this, if this be otherwise:
If
circumstances lead me, I will find
Where
truth is hid, though it were hid indeed
Within
the centre.
KING CLAUDIUS How may we try it further?
LORD POLONIUS You
know, sometimes he walks four hours together
Here
in the lobby.
QUEEN GERTRUDE So he does indeed.
LORD POLONIUS At
such a time I'll loose my daughter to him:
Be
you and I behind an arras then;
Mark
the encounter: if he love her not
And
be not from his reason fall'n thereon,
Let
me be no assistant for a state,
But
keep a farm and carters.
KING CLAUDIUS We
will try it.
QUEEN GERTRUDE But,
look, where sadly the poor wretch comes reading.
LORD POLONIUS Away,
I do beseech you, both away:
I'll
board him presently.
[Exeunt
KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, and
Attendants]
[Enter
HAMLET, reading]
O, give me leave:
How
does my good Lord Hamlet?
HAMLET Well,
God-a-mercy.
LORD POLONIUS Do
you know me, my lord?
HAMLET Excellent
well; you are a fishmonger.
LORD POLONIUS Not
I, my lord.
HAMLET Then
I would you were so honest a man.
LORD POLONIUS Honest,
my lord!
HAMLET Ay,
sir; to be honest, as this world goes, is to be
one
man picked out of ten thousand.
LORD POLONIUS That's
very true, my lord.
HAMLET For
if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a
god
kissing carrion,--Have you a daughter?
LORD POLONIUS I
have, my lord.
HAMLET Let
her not walk i' the sun: conception is a
blessing:
but not as your daughter may conceive.
Friend,
look to 't.
LORD POLONIUS [Aside] How say you by that? Still harping on my
daughter:
yet he knew me not at first; he said I
was
a fishmonger: he is far gone, far gone: and
truly
in my youth I suffered much extremity for
love;
very near this. I'll speak to him again.
What
do you read, my lord?
HAMLET Words,
words, words.
LORD POLONIUS What
is the matter, my lord?
HAMLET Between
who?
LORD POLONIUS I
mean, the matter that you read, my lord.
HAMLET Slanders,
sir: for the satirical rogue says here
that
old men have grey beards, that their faces are
wrinkled,
their eyes purging thick amber and
plum-tree
gum and that they have a plentiful lack of
wit,
together with most weak hams: all which, sir,
though
I most powerfully and potently believe, yet
I
hold it not honesty to have it thus set down, for
yourself,
sir, should be old as I am, if like a crab
you
could go backward.
LORD POLONIUS [Aside] Though this be madness, yet there is method
in
't. Will you walk out of the air, my lord?
HAMLET Into
my grave.
LORD POLONIUS Indeed,
that is out o' the air.
[Aside]
How
pregnant sometimes his replies are! a happiness
that
often madness hits on, which reason and sanity
could
not so prosperously be delivered of. I will
leave
him, and suddenly contrive the means of
meeting
between him and my daughter.--My honourable
lord,
I will most humbly take my leave of you.
HAMLET You
cannot, sir, take from me any thing that I will
more
willingly part withal: except my life, except
my
life, except my life.
LORD POLONIUS Fare
you well, my lord.
HAMLET These
tedious old fools!
[Enter
ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN]
LORD POLONIUS You
go to seek the Lord Hamlet; there he is.
ROSENCRANTZ [To
POLONIUS] God save you, sir!
[Exit
POLONIUS]
GUILDENSTERN My
honoured lord!
ROSENCRANTZ My
most dear lord!
HAMLET My
excellent good friends! How dost thou,
Guildenstern?
Ah, Rosencrantz! Good lads, how do ye both?
ROSENCRANTZ As
the indifferent children of the earth.
GUILDENSTERN Happy,
in that we are not over-happy;
On
fortune's cap we are not the very button.
HAMLET Nor
the soles of her shoe?
ROSENCRANTZ Neither,
my lord.
HAMLET Then
you live about her waist, or in the middle of
her
favours?
GUILDENSTERN 'Faith,
her privates we.
HAMLET In
the secret parts of fortune? O, most true; she
is
a strumpet. What's the news?
ROSENCRANTZ None,
my lord, but that the world's grown honest.
HAMLET Then
is doomsday near: but your news is not true.
Let
me question more in particular: what have you,
my
good friends, deserved at the hands of fortune,
that
she sends you to prison hither?
GUILDENSTERN Prison,
my lord!
HAMLET
ROSENCRANTZ Then
is the world one.
HAMLET A
goodly one; in which there are many confines,
wards
and dungeons,
ROSENCRANTZ We
think not so, my lord.
HAMLET Why,
then, 'tis none to you; for there is nothing
either
good or bad, but thinking makes it so: to me
it
is a prison.
ROSENCRANTZ Why
then, your ambition makes it one; 'tis too
narrow
for your mind.
HAMLET O
God, I could be bounded in a nut shell and count
myself
a king of infinite space, were it not that I
have
bad dreams.
GUILDENSTERN Which
dreams indeed are ambition, for the very
substance
of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.
HAMLET A
dream itself is but a shadow.
ROSENCRANTZ Truly,
and I hold ambition of so airy and light a
quality
that it is but a shadow's shadow.
HAMLET Then
are our beggars bodies, and our monarchs and
outstretched
heroes the beggars' shadows. Shall we
to
the court? for, by my fay, I cannot reason.
ROSENCRANTZ |
|
We'll wait upon you.
GUILDENSTERN |
HAMLET No
such matter: I will not sort you with the rest
of
my servants, for, to speak to you like an honest
man,
I am most dreadfully attended. But, in the
beaten
way of friendship, what make you at
ROSENCRANTZ To
visit you, my lord; no other occasion.
HAMLET Beggar
that I am, I am even poor in thanks; but I
thank
you: and sure, dear friends, my thanks are
too
dear a halfpenny. Were you not sent for? Is it
your
own inclining? Is it a free visitation? Come,
deal
justly with me: come, come; nay, speak.
GUILDENSTERN What
should we say, my lord?
HAMLET Why,
any thing, but to the purpose. You were sent
for;
and there is a kind of confession in your looks
which
your modesties have not craft enough to colour:
I
know the good king and queen have sent for you.
ROSENCRANTZ To
what end, my lord?
HAMLET That
you must teach me. But let me conjure you, by
the
rights of our fellowship, by the consonancy of
our
youth, by the obligation of our ever-preserved
love,
and by what more dear a better proposer could
charge
you withal, be even and direct with me,
whether
you were sent for, or no?
ROSENCRANTZ [Aside
to GUILDENSTERN] What say you?
HAMLET [Aside] Nay, then, I have an eye of you.--If you
love
me, hold not off.
GUILDENSTERN My
lord, we were sent for.
HAMLET I
will tell you why; so shall my anticipation
prevent
your discovery, and your secrecy to the king
and
queen moult no feather. I have of late--but
wherefore
I know not--lost all my mirth, forgone all
custom
of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily
with
my disposition that this goodly frame, the
earth,
seems to me a sterile promontory, this most
excellent
canopy, the air, look you, this brave
o'erhanging
firmament, this majestical roof fretted
with
golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to
me
than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.
What
a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how
infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express
and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in
apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world!
the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what
is this quintessence of dust? man delights not
me:
no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling
you
seem to say so.
ROSENCRANTZ My
lord, there was no such stuff in my thoughts.
HAMLET Why
did you laugh then, when I said 'man delights not me'?
ROSENCRANTZ To
think, my lord, if you delight not in man, what
lenten
entertainment the players shall receive from
you:
we coted them on the way; and hither are they
coming,
to offer you service.
HAMLET He
that plays the king shall be welcome; his majesty
shall
have tribute of me; the adventurous knight
shall
use his foil and target; the lover shall not
sigh
gratis; the humourous man shall end his part
in
peace; the clown shall make those laugh whose
lungs
are tickled o' the sere; and the lady shall
say
her mind freely, or the blank verse shall halt
for't.
What players are they?
ROSENCRANTZ Even
those you were wont to take delight in, the
tragedians
of the city.
HAMLET How
chances it they travel? their residence, both
in
reputation and profit, was better both ways.
ROSENCRANTZ I
think their inhibition comes by the means of the
late
innovation.
HAMLET Do
they hold the same estimation they did when I was
in
the city? are they so followed?
ROSENCRANTZ No,
indeed, are they not.
HAMLET How
comes it? do they grow rusty?
ROSENCRANTZ Nay,
their endeavour keeps in the wonted pace: but
there
is, sir, an aery of children, little eyases,
that
cry out on the top of question, and are most
tyrannically
clapped for't: these are now the
fashion,
and so berattle the common stages--so they
call
them--that many wearing rapiers are afraid of
goose-quills
and dare scarce come thither.
HAMLET What,
are they children? who maintains 'em? how are
they
escoted? Will they pursue the quality no
longer
than they can sing? will they not say
afterwards,
if they should grow themselves to common
players--as
it is most like, if their means are no
better--their
writers do them wrong, to make them
exclaim
against their own succession?
ROSENCRANTZ 'Faith,
there has been much to do on both sides; and
the
nation holds it no sin to tarre them to
controversy:
there was, for a while, no money bid
for
argument, unless the poet and the player went to
cuffs
in the question.
HAMLET Is't
possible?
GUILDENSTERN O,
there has been much throwing about of brains.
HAMLET Do
the boys carry it away?
ROSENCRANTZ Ay,
that they do, my lord; Hercules and his load too.
HAMLET It
is not very strange; for mine uncle is king of
my
father lived, give twenty, forty, fifty, an
hundred
ducats a-piece for his picture in little.
'Sblood,
there is something in this more than
natural,
if philosophy could find it out.
[Flourish
of trumpets within]
GUILDENSTERN There
are the players.
HAMLET Gentlemen,
you are welcome to
come
then: the appurtenance of welcome is fashion
and
ceremony: let me comply with you in this garb,
lest
my extent to the players, which, I tell you,
must
show fairly outward, should more appear like
entertainment
than yours. You are welcome: but my
uncle-father
and aunt-mother are deceived.
GUILDENSTERN In
what, my dear lord?
HAMLET I
am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is
southerly
I know a hawk from a handsaw.
[Enter
POLONIUS]
LORD POLONIUS Well
be with you, gentlemen!
HAMLET Hark
you, Guildenstern; and you too: at each ear a
hearer:
that great baby you see there is not yet
out
of his swaddling-clouts.
ROSENCRANTZ Happily
he's the second time come to them; for they
say
an old man is twice a child.
HAMLET I
will prophesy he comes to tell me of the players;
mark
it. You say right, sir: o' Monday morning;
'twas
so indeed.
LORD POLONIUS My
lord, I have news to tell you.
HAMLET My
lord, I have news to tell you.
When
Roscius was an actor in
LORD POLONIUS The
actors are come hither, my lord.
HAMLET Buz,
buz!
LORD POLONIUS Upon
mine honour,--
HAMLET Then
came each actor on his ass,--
LORD POLONIUS The
best actors in the world, either for tragedy,
comedy,
history, pastoral, pastoral-comical,
historical-pastoral,
tragical-historical, tragical-
comical-historical-pastoral,
scene individable, or
poem
unlimited: Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor
Plautus
too light. For the law of writ and the
liberty,
these are the only men.
HAMLET O
Jephthah, judge of
LORD POLONIUS What
a treasure had he, my lord?
HAMLET Why,
'One
fair daughter and no more,
The
which he loved passing well.'
LORD POLONIUS [Aside] Still on my daughter.
HAMLET Am
I not i' the right, old Jephthah?
LORD POLONIUS If
you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have a daughter
that
I love passing well.
HAMLET Nay,
that follows not.
LORD POLONIUS What
follows, then, my lord?
HAMLET Why,
'As
by lot, God wot,'
and
then, you know,
'It
came to pass, as most like it was,'--
the
first row of the pious chanson will show you
more;
for look, where my abridgement comes.
[Enter
four or five Players]
You
are welcome, masters; welcome, all. I am glad
to
see thee well. Welcome, good friends. O, my old
friend!
thy face is valenced since I saw thee last:
comest
thou to beard me in
lady
and mistress! By'r lady, your ladyship is
nearer
to heaven than when I saw you last, by the
altitude
of a chopine. Pray God, your voice, like
apiece
of uncurrent gold, be not cracked within the
ring.
Masters, you are all welcome. We'll e'en
to't
like French falconers, fly at any thing we see:
we'll
have a speech straight: come, give us a taste
of
your quality; come, a passionate speech.
First Player What
speech, my lord?
HAMLET I
heard thee speak me a speech once, but it was
never
acted; or, if it was, not above once; for the
play,
I remember, pleased not the million; 'twas
caviare
to the general: but it was--as I received
it,
and others, whose judgments in such matters
cried
in the top of mine--an excellent play, well
digested
in the scenes, set down with as much
modesty
as cunning. I remember, one said there
were
no sallets in the lines to make the matter
savoury,
nor no matter in the phrase that might
indict
the author of affectation; but called it an
honest
method, as wholesome as sweet, and by very
much
more handsome than fine. One speech in it I
chiefly
loved: 'twas Aeneas' tale to Dido; and
thereabout
of it especially, where he speaks of
Priam's
slaughter: if it live in your memory, begin
at
this line: let me see, let me see--
'The
rugged Pyrrhus, like the Hyrcanian beast,'--
it
is not so:--it begins with Pyrrhus:--
'The
rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms,
Black
as his purpose, did the night resemble
When
he lay couched in the ominous horse,
Hath
now this dread and black complexion smear'd
With
heraldry more dismal; head to foot
Now
is he total gules; horridly trick'd
With
blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons,
Baked
and impasted with the parching streets,
That
lend a tyrannous and damned light
To
their lord's murder: roasted in wrath and fire,
And
thus o'er-sized with coagulate gore,
With
eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus
Old
grandsire Priam seeks.'
So,
proceed you.
LORD POLONIUS 'Fore
God, my lord, well spoken, with good accent and
good
discretion.
First Player 'Anon
he finds him
Striking
too short at Greeks; his antique sword,
Rebellious
to his arm, lies where it falls,
Repugnant
to command: unequal match'd,
Pyrrhus
at Priam drives; in rage strikes wide;
But
with the whiff and wind of his fell sword
The
unnerved father falls. Then senseless
Seeming
to feel this blow, with flaming top
Stoops
to his base, and with a hideous crash
Takes
prisoner Pyrrhus' ear: for, lo! his sword,
Which
was declining on the milky head
Of
reverend Priam, seem'd i' the air to stick:
So,
as a painted tyrant, Pyrrhus stood,
And
like a neutral to his will and matter,
Did
nothing.
But,
as we often see, against some storm,
A
silence in the heavens, the rack stand still,
The
bold winds speechless and the orb below
As
hush as death, anon the dreadful thunder
Doth
rend the region, so, after Pyrrhus' pause,
Aroused
vengeance sets him new a-work;
And
never did the Cyclops' hammers fall
On
Mars's armour forged for proof eterne
With
less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword
Now
falls on Priam.
Out,
out, thou strumpet, Fortune! All you gods,
In
general synod 'take away her power;
Break
all the spokes and fellies from her wheel,
And
bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven,
As
low as to the fiends!'
LORD POLONIUS This
is too long.
HAMLET It
shall to the barber's, with your beard. Prithee,
say
on: he's for a jig or a tale of bawdry, or he
sleeps:
say on: come to Hecuba.
First Player 'But
who, O, who had seen the mobled queen--'
HAMLET 'The
mobled queen?'
LORD POLONIUS That's
good; 'mobled queen' is good.
First Player 'Run
barefoot up and down, threatening the flames
With
bisson rheum; a clout upon that head
Where
late the diadem stood, and for a robe,
About
her lank and all o'er-teemed loins,
A
blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up;
Who
this had seen, with tongue in venom steep'd,
'Gainst
Fortune's state would treason have
pronounced:
But
if the gods themselves did see her then
When
she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport
In
mincing with his sword her husband's limbs,
The
instant burst of clamour that she made,
Unless
things mortal move them not at all,
Would
have made milch the burning eyes of heaven,
And
passion in the gods.'
LORD POLONIUS Look,
whether he has not turned his colour and has
tears
in's eyes. Pray you, no more.
HAMLET 'Tis
well: I'll have thee speak out the rest soon.
Good
my lord, will you see the players well
bestowed?
Do you hear, let them be well used; for
they
are the abstract and brief chronicles of the
time:
after your death you were better have a bad
epitaph
than their ill report while you live.
LORD POLONIUS My
lord, I will use them according to their desert.
HAMLET God's
bodykins, man, much better: use every man
after
his desert, and who should 'scape whipping?
Use
them after your own honour and dignity: the less
they
deserve, the more merit is in your bounty.
Take
them in.
LORD POLONIUS Come,
sirs.
HAMLET Follow
him, friends: we'll hear a play to-morrow.
[Exit
POLONIUS with all the Players but the First]
Dost
thou hear me, old friend; can you play the
Murder
of Gonzago?
First Player Ay,
my lord.
HAMLET We'll
ha't to-morrow night. You could, for a need,
study
a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines, which
I
would set down and insert in't, could you not?
First Player Ay,
my lord.
HAMLET Very
well. Follow that lord; and look you mock him
not.
[Exit
First Player]
My
good friends, I'll leave you till night: you are
welcome
to
ROSENCRANTZ Good
my lord!
HAMLET Ay,
so, God be wi' ye;
[Exeunt
ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN]
Now I am alone.
O,
what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is
it not monstrous that this player here,
But
in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could
force his soul so to his own conceit
That
from her working all his visage wann'd,
Tears
in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,
A
broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With
forms to his conceit? and all for nothing!
For
Hecuba!
What's
Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That
he should weep for her? What would he do,
Had
he the motive and the cue for passion
That
I have? He would drown the stage with tears
And
cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make
mad the guilty and appal the free,
Confound
the ignorant, and amaze indeed
The
very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I,
A
dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like
John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And
can say nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon
whose property and most dear life
A
damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who
calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks
off my beard, and blows it in my face?
Tweaks
me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat,
As
deep as to the lungs? who does me this?
Ha!
'Swounds,
I should take it: for it cannot be
But
I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall
To
make oppression bitter, or ere this
I
should have fatted all the region kites
With
this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain!
Remorseless,
treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!
O,
vengeance!
Why,
what an ass am I! This is most brave,
That
I, the son of a dear father murder'd,
Prompted
to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must,
like a whore, unpack my heart with words,
And
fall a-cursing, like a very drab,
A
scullion!
Fie
upon't! foh! About, my brain! I have heard
That
guilty creatures sitting at a play
Have
by the very cunning of the scene
Been
struck so to the soul that presently
They
have proclaim'd their malefactions;
For
murder, though it have no tongue, will speak
With
most miraculous organ. I'll have these players
Play
something like the murder of my father
Before
mine uncle: I'll observe his looks;
I'll
tent him to the quick: if he but blench,
I
know my course. The spirit that I have seen
May
be the devil: and the devil hath power
To
assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
Out
of my weakness and my melancholy,
As
he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses
me to damn me: I'll have grounds
More
relative than this: the play 's the thing
Wherein
I'll catch the conscience of the king.
[Exit]
A
room in the castle.
[Enter
KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, POLONIUS,
OPHELIA,
ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDENSTERN]
KING CLAUDIUS And
can you, by no drift of circumstance,
Get
from him why he puts on this confusion,
Grating
so harshly all his days of quiet
With
turbulent and dangerous lunacy?
ROSENCRANTZ He
does confess he feels himself distracted;
But
from what cause he will by no means speak.
GUILDENSTERN Nor
do we find him forward to be sounded,
But,
with a crafty madness, keeps aloof,
When
we would bring him on to some confession
Of
his true state.
QUEEN GERTRUDE Did he receive you well?
ROSENCRANTZ Most
like a gentleman.
GUILDENSTERN But
with much forcing of his disposition.
ROSENCRANTZ Niggard
of question; but, of our demands,
Most
free in his reply.
QUEEN GERTRUDE Did
you assay him?
To
any pastime?
ROSENCRANTZ Madam,
it so fell out, that certain players
We
o'er-raught on the way: of these we told him;
And
there did seem in him a kind of joy
To
hear of it: they are about the court,
And,
as I think, they have already order
This
night to play before him.
LORD POLONIUS 'Tis
most true:
And
he beseech'd me to entreat your majesties
To
hear and see the matter.
KING CLAUDIUS With
all my heart; and it doth much content me
To
hear him so inclined.
Good
gentlemen, give him a further edge,
And
drive his purpose on to these delights.
ROSENCRANTZ We
shall, my lord.
[Exeunt
ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN]
KING CLAUDIUS Sweet Gertrude, leave us too;
For
we have closely sent for Hamlet hither,
That
he, as 'twere by accident, may here
Affront
Ophelia:
Her
father and myself, lawful espials,
Will
so bestow ourselves that, seeing, unseen,
We
may of their encounter frankly judge,
And
gather by him, as he is behaved,
If
't be the affliction of his love or no
That
thus he suffers for.
QUEEN GERTRUDE I
shall obey you.
And
for your part, Ophelia, I do wish
That
your good beauties be the happy cause
Of
Hamlet's wildness: so shall I hope your virtues
Will
bring him to his wonted way again,
To
both your honours.
OPHELIA Madam,
I wish it may.
[Exit
QUEEN GERTRUDE]
LORD POLONIUS Ophelia,
walk you here. Gracious, so please you,
We
will bestow ourselves.
[To
OPHELIA]
Read on this book;
That
show of such an exercise may colour
Your
loneliness. We are oft to blame in this,--
'Tis
too much proved--that with devotion's visage
And
pious action we do sugar o'er
The
devil himself.
KING CLAUDIUS [Aside] O, 'tis too true!
How
smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience!
The
harlot's cheek, beautied with plastering art,
Is
not more ugly to the thing that helps it
Than
is my deed to my most painted word:
O
heavy burthen!
LORD POLONIUS I
hear him coming: let's withdraw, my lord.
[Exeunt
KING CLAUDIUS and POLONIUS]
[Enter
HAMLET]
HAMLET To
be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether
'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The
slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or
to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And
by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No
more; and by a sleep to say we end
The
heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That
flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly
to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To
sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When
we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must
give us pause: there's the respect
That
makes calamity of so long life;
For
who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The
oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The
pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The
insolence of office and the spurns
That
patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When
he himself might his quietus make
With
a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To
grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But
that the dread of something after death,
The
undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No
traveller returns, puzzles the will
And
makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than
fly to others that we know not of?
Thus
conscience does make cowards of us all;
And
thus the native hue of resolution
Is
sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And
enterprises of great pith and moment
With
this regard their currents turn awry,
And
lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The
fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be
all my sins remember'd.
OPHELIA Good
my lord,
How
does your honour for this many a day?
HAMLET I
humbly thank you; well, well, well.
OPHELIA My
lord, I have remembrances of yours,
That
I have longed long to re-deliver;
I
pray you, now receive them.
HAMLET No,
not I;
I
never gave you aught.
OPHELIA My
honour'd lord, you know right well you did;
And,
with them, words of so sweet breath composed
As
made the things more rich: their perfume lost,
Take
these again; for to the noble mind
Rich
gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.
There,
my lord.
HAMLET Ha,
ha! are you honest?
OPHELIA My
lord?
HAMLET Are
you fair?
OPHELIA What
means your lordship?
HAMLET That
if you be honest and fair, your honesty should
admit
no discourse to your beauty.
OPHELIA Could
beauty, my lord, have better commerce than
with
honesty?
HAMLET Ay,
truly; for the power of beauty will sooner
transform
honesty from what it is to a bawd than the
force
of honesty can translate beauty into his
likeness:
this was sometime a paradox, but now the
time
gives it proof. I did love you once.
OPHELIA Indeed,
my lord, you made me believe so.
HAMLET You
should not have believed me; for virtue cannot
so
inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of
it:
I loved you not.
OPHELIA I
was the more deceived.
HAMLET Get
thee to a nunnery: why wouldst thou be a
breeder
of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest;
but
yet I could accuse me of such things that it
were
better my mother had not borne me: I am very
proud,
revengeful, ambitious, with more offences at
my
beck than I have thoughts to put them in,
imagination
to give them shape, or time to act them
in.
What should such fellows as I do crawling
between
earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves,
all;
believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery.
Where's
your father?
OPHELIA At
home, my lord.
HAMLET Let
the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the
fool
no where but in's own house. Farewell.
OPHELIA O,
help him, you sweet heavens!
HAMLET If
thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for
thy
dowry: be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as
snow,
thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a
nunnery,
go: farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs
marry,
marry a fool; for wise men know well enough
what
monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go,
and
quickly too. Farewell.
OPHELIA O
heavenly powers, restore him!
HAMLET I
have heard of your paintings too, well enough; God
has
given you one face, and you make yourselves
another:
you jig, you amble, and you lisp, and
nick-name
God's creatures, and make your wantonness
your
ignorance. Go to, I'll no more on't; it hath
made
me mad. I say, we will have no more marriages:
those
that are married already, all but one, shall
live;
the rest shall keep as they are. To a
nunnery,
go.
[Exit]
OPHELIA O,
what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
The
courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword;
The
expectancy and rose of the fair state,
The
glass of fashion and the mould of form,
The
observed of all observers, quite, quite down!
And
I, of ladies most deject and wretched,
That
suck'd the honey of his music vows,
Now
see that noble and most sovereign reason,
Like
sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh;
That
unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth
Blasted
with ecstasy: O, woe is me,
To
have seen what I have seen, see what I see!
[Re-enter
KING CLAUDIUS and POLONIUS]
KING CLAUDIUS Love!
his affections do not that way tend;
Nor
what he spake, though it lack'd form a little,
Was
not like madness. There's something in his soul,
O'er
which his melancholy sits on brood;
And
I do doubt the hatch and the disclose
Will
be some danger: which for to prevent,
I
have in quick determination
Thus
set it down: he shall with speed to
For
the demand of our neglected tribute
Haply
the seas and countries different
With
variable objects shall expel
This
something-settled matter in his heart,
Whereon
his brains still beating puts him thus
From
fashion of himself. What think you on't?
LORD POLONIUS It
shall do well: but yet do I believe
The
origin and commencement of his grief
Sprung
from neglected love. How now, Ophelia!
You
need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said;
We
heard it all. My lord, do as you please;
But,
if you hold it fit, after the play
Let
his queen mother all alone entreat him
To
show his grief: let her be round with him;
And
I'll be placed, so please you, in the ear
Of
all their conference. If she find him not,
To
Your
wisdom best shall think.
KING CLAUDIUS It
shall be so:
Madness
in great ones must not unwatch'd go.
[Exeunt]
A
hall in the castle.
[Enter
HAMLET and Players]
HAMLET Speak
the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to
you,
trippingly on the tongue: but if you mouth it,
as
many of your players do, I had as lief the
town-crier
spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air
too
much with your hand, thus, but use all gently;
for
in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say,
the
whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget
a
temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it
offends
me to the soul to hear a robustious
periwig-pated
fellow tear a passion to tatters, to
very
rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who
for
the most part are capable of nothing but
inexplicable
dumbshows and noise: I would have such
a
fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant; it
out-herods
Herod: pray you, avoid it.
First Player I
warrant your honour.
HAMLET Be
not too tame neither, but let your own discretion
be
your tutor: suit the action to the word, the
word
to the action; with this special observance,
that
you o'erstep not the modesty of nature: for any
thing
so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose
end,
both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as
'twere,
the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own
feature,
scorn her own image, and the very age and body
of
the time his form and pressure. Now this overdone,
or
come tardy off, though it make the unskilful
laugh,
cannot but make the judicious grieve; the
censure
of the which one must in your allowance
o'erweigh
a whole theatre of others. O, there be
players
that I have seen play, and heard others
praise,
and that highly, not to speak it profanely,
that,
neither having the accent of Christians nor
the
gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so
strutted
and bellowed that I have thought some of
nature's
journeymen had made men and not made them
well,
they imitated humanity so abominably.
First Player I
hope we have reformed that indifferently with us,
sir.
HAMLET O,
reform it altogether. And let those that play
your
clowns speak no more than is set down for them;
for
there be of them that will themselves laugh, to
set
on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh
too;
though, in the mean time, some necessary
question
of the play be then to be considered:
that's
villanous, and shows a most pitiful ambition
in
the fool that uses it. Go, make you ready.
[Exeunt
Players]
[Enter
POLONIUS, ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDENSTERN]
How
now, my lord! I will the king hear this piece of work?
LORD POLONIUS And
the queen too, and that presently.
HAMLET Bid
the players make haste.
[Exit
POLONIUS]
Will
you two help to hasten them?
ROSENCRANTZ |
| We will, my lord.
GUILDENSTERN |
[Exeunt
ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN]
HAMLET What
ho! Horatio!
[Enter
HORATIO]
HORATIO Here,
sweet lord, at your service.
HAMLET Horatio,
thou art e'en as just a man
As
e'er my conversation coped withal.
HORATIO O,
my dear lord,--
HAMLET Nay, do not think I flatter;
For
what advancement may I hope from thee
That
no revenue hast but thy good spirits,
To
feed and clothe thee? Why should the poor be flatter'd?
No,
let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp,
And
crook the pregnant hinges of the knee
Where
thrift may follow fawning. Dost thou hear?
Since
my dear soul was mistress of her choice
And
could of men distinguish, her election
Hath
seal'd thee for herself; for thou hast been
As
one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing,
A
man that fortune's buffets and rewards
Hast
ta'en with equal thanks: and blest are those
Whose
blood and judgment are so well commingled,
That
they are not a pipe for fortune's finger
To
sound what stop she please. Give me that man
That
is not passion's slave, and I will wear him
In
my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart,
As
I do thee.--Something too much of this.--
There
is a play to-night before the king;
One
scene of it comes near the circumstance
Which
I have told thee of my father's death:
I
prithee, when thou seest that act afoot,
Even
with the very comment of thy soul
Observe
mine uncle: if his occulted guilt
Do
not itself unkennel in one speech,
It
is a damned ghost that we have seen,
And
my imaginations are as foul
As
Vulcan's stithy. Give him heedful note;
For
I mine eyes will rivet to his face,
And
after we will both our judgments join
In
censure of his seeming.
HORATIO Well,
my lord:
If
he steal aught the whilst this play is playing,
And
'scape detecting, I will pay the theft.
HAMLET They
are coming to the play; I must be idle:
Get
you a place.
[Danish
march. A flourish. Enter KING CLAUDIUS,
QUEEN
GERTRUDE, POLONIUS, OPHELIA, ROSENCRANTZ,
GUILDENSTERN,
and others]
KING CLAUDIUS How
fares our cousin Hamlet?
HAMLET Excellent,
i' faith; of the chameleon's dish: I eat
the
air, promise-crammed: you cannot feed capons so.
KING CLAUDIUS I
have nothing with this answer, Hamlet; these words
are
not mine.
HAMLET No,
nor mine now.
[To
POLONIUS]
My
lord, you played once i' the university, you say?
LORD POLONIUS That
did I, my lord; and was accounted a good actor.
HAMLET What
did you enact?
LORD POLONIUS I
did enact Julius Caesar: I was killed i' the
Capitol;
Brutus killed me.
HAMLET It
was a brute part of him to kill so capital a calf
there.
Be the players ready?
ROSENCRANTZ Ay,
my lord; they stay upon your patience.
QUEEN GERTRUDE Come
hither, my dear Hamlet, sit by me.
HAMLET No,
good mother, here's metal more attractive.
LORD POLONIUS [To
KING CLAUDIUS] O, ho! do you mark that?
HAMLET Lady,
shall I lie in your lap?
[Lying
down at OPHELIA's feet]
OPHELIA No,
my lord.
HAMLET I
mean, my head upon your lap?
OPHELIA Ay,
my lord.
HAMLET Do
you think I meant country matters?
OPHELIA I
think nothing, my lord.
HAMLET That's
a fair thought to lie between maids' legs.
OPHELIA What
is, my lord?
HAMLET Nothing.
OPHELIA You
are merry, my lord.
HAMLET Who,
I?
OPHELIA Ay,
my lord.
HAMLET O
God, your only jig-maker. What should a man do
but
be merry? for, look you, how cheerfully my
mother
looks, and my father died within these two hours.
OPHELIA Nay,
'tis twice two months, my lord.
HAMLET So
long? Nay then, let the devil wear black, for
I'll
have a suit of sables. O heavens! die two
months
ago, and not forgotten yet? Then there's
hope
a great man's memory may outlive his life half
a
year: but, by'r lady, he must build churches,
then;
or else shall he suffer not thinking on, with
the
hobby-horse, whose epitaph is 'For, O, for, O,
the
hobby-horse is forgot.'
[Hautboys
play. The dumb-show enters]
[Enter
a King and a Queen very lovingly; the Queen
embracing
him, and he her. She kneels, and makes
show
of protestation unto him. He takes her up,
and
declines his head upon her neck: lays him down
upon
a bank of flowers: she, seeing him asleep,
leaves
him. Anon comes in a fellow, takes off his
crown,
kisses it, and pours poison in the King's
ears,
and exit. The Queen returns; finds the King
dead,
and makes passionate action. The Poisoner,
with
some two or three Mutes, comes in again,
seeming
to lament with her. The dead body is
carried
away. The Poisoner wooes the Queen with
gifts:
she seems loath and unwilling awhile, but
in
the end accepts his love]
[Exeunt]
OPHELIA What
means this, my lord?
HAMLET Marry,
this is miching mallecho; it means mischief.
OPHELIA Belike
this show imports the argument of the play.
[Enter
Prologue]
HAMLET We
shall know by this fellow: the players cannot
keep
counsel; they'll tell all.
OPHELIA Will
he tell us what this show meant?
HAMLET Ay,
or any show that you'll show him: be not you
ashamed
to show, he'll not shame to tell you what it means.
OPHELIA You
are naught, you are naught: I'll mark the play.
Prologue For us, and for our tragedy,
Here
stooping to your clemency,
We
beg your hearing patiently.
[Exit]
HAMLET Is
this a prologue, or the posy of a ring?
OPHELIA 'Tis
brief, my lord.
HAMLET As
woman's love.
[Enter
two Players, King and Queen]
Player King Full thirty times hath Phoebus' cart gone
round
And
thirty dozen moons with borrow'd sheen
About
the world have times twelve thirties been,
Since
love our hearts and Hymen did our hands
Unite
commutual in most sacred bands.
Player Queen So many journeys may the sun and moon
Make
us again count o'er ere love be done!
But,
woe is me, you are so sick of late,
So
far from cheer and from your former state,
That
I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust,
Discomfort
you, my lord, it nothing must:
For
women's fear and love holds quantity;
In
neither aught, or in extremity.
Now,
what my love is, proof hath made you know;
And
as my love is sized, my fear is so:
Where
love is great, the littlest doubts are fear;
Where
little fears grow great, great love grows there.
Player King 'Faith,
I must leave thee, love, and shortly too;
My
operant powers their functions leave to do:
And
thou shalt live in this fair world behind,
Honour'd,
beloved; and haply one as kind
For
husband shalt thou--
Player Queen O,
confound the rest!
Such
love must needs be treason in my breast:
In
second husband let me be accurst!
None
wed the second but who kill'd the first.
HAMLET [Aside] Wormwood, wormwood.
Player Queen The instances that second marriage move
Are
base respects of thrift, but none of love:
A
second time I kill my husband dead,
When
second husband kisses me in bed.
Player King I do believe you think what now you speak;
But
what we do determine oft we break.
Purpose
is but the slave to memory,
Of
violent birth, but poor validity;
Which
now, like fruit unripe, sticks on the tree;
But
fall, unshaken, when they mellow be.
Most
necessary 'tis that we forget
To
pay ourselves what to ourselves is debt:
What
to ourselves in passion we propose,
The
passion ending, doth the purpose lose.
The
violence of either grief or joy
Their
own enactures with themselves destroy:
Where
joy most revels, grief doth most lament;
Grief
joys, joy grieves, on slender accident.
This
world is not for aye, nor 'tis not strange
That
even our loves should with our fortunes change;
For
'tis a question left us yet to prove,
Whether
love lead fortune, or else fortune love.
The
great man down, you mark his favourite flies;
The
poor advanced makes friends of enemies.
And
hitherto doth love on fortune tend;
For
who not needs shall never lack a friend,
And
who in want a hollow friend doth try,
Directly
seasons him his enemy.
But,
orderly to end where I begun,
Our
wills and fates do so contrary run
That
our devices still are overthrown;
Our
thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own:
So
think thou wilt no second husband wed;
But
die thy thoughts when thy first lord is dead.
Player Queen Nor earth to me give food, nor heaven light!
Sport
and repose lock from me day and night!
To
desperation turn my trust and hope!
An
anchor's cheer in prison be my scope!
Each
opposite that blanks the face of joy
Meet
what I would have well and it destroy!
Both
here and hence pursue me lasting strife,
If,
once a widow, ever I be wife!
HAMLET If
she should break it now!
Player King 'Tis
deeply sworn. Sweet, leave me here awhile;
My
spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile
The
tedious day with sleep.
[Sleeps]
Player Queen Sleep
rock thy brain,
And
never come mischance between us twain!
[Exit]
HAMLET Madam,
how like you this play?
QUEEN GERTRUDE The
lady protests too much, methinks.
HAMLET O,
but she'll keep her word.
KING CLAUDIUS Have
you heard the argument? Is there no offence in 't?
HAMLET No,
no, they do but jest, poison in jest; no offence
i'
the world.
KING CLAUDIUS What
do you call the play?
HAMLET The
Mouse-trap. Marry, how? Tropically. This play
is
the image of a murder done in
the
duke's name; his wife, Baptista: you shall see
anon;
'tis a knavish piece of work: but what o'
that?
your majesty and we that have free souls, it
touches
us not: let the galled jade wince, our
withers
are unwrung.
[Enter
LUCIANUS]
This
is one Lucianus, nephew to the king.
OPHELIA You
are as good as a chorus, my lord.
HAMLET I
could interpret between you and your love, if I
could
see the puppets dallying.
OPHELIA You
are keen, my lord, you are keen.
HAMLET It
would cost you a groaning to take off my edge.
OPHELIA Still
better, and worse.
HAMLET So
you must take your husbands. Begin, murderer;
pox,
leave thy damnable faces, and begin. Come:
'the
croaking raven doth bellow for revenge.'
LUCIANUS Thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit, and
time agreeing;
Confederate
season, else no creature seeing;
Thou
mixture rank, of
With
Hecate's ban thrice blasted, thrice infected,
Thy
natural magic and dire property,
On
wholesome life usurp immediately.
[Pours
the poison into the sleeper's ears]
HAMLET He
poisons him i' the garden for's estate. His
name's
Gonzago: the story is extant, and writ in
choice
Italian: you shall see anon how the murderer
gets
the love of Gonzago's wife.
OPHELIA The
king rises.
HAMLET What,
frighted with false fire!
QUEEN GERTRUDE How
fares my lord?
LORD POLONIUS Give
o'er the play.
KING CLAUDIUS Give
me some light: away!
All Lights,
lights, lights!
[Exeunt
all but HAMLET and HORATIO]
HAMLET Why, let the stricken deer go weep,
The
hart ungalled play;
For
some must watch, while some must sleep:
So
runs the world away.
Would
not this, sir, and a forest of feathers-- if
the
rest of my fortunes turn Turk with me--with two
Provincial
roses on my razed shoes, get me a
fellowship
in a cry of players, sir?
HORATIO Half
a share.
HAMLET A
whole one, I.
For
thou dost know, O Damon dear,
This
realm dismantled was
Of
Jove himself; and now reigns here
A
very, very--pajock.
HORATIO You
might have rhymed.
HAMLET O
good Horatio, I'll take the ghost's word for a
thousand
pound. Didst perceive?
HORATIO Very
well, my lord.
HAMLET Upon
the talk of the poisoning?
HORATIO I
did very well note him.
HAMLET Ah,
ha! Come, some music! come, the recorders!
For
if the king like not the comedy,
Why
then, belike, he likes it not, perdy.
Come,
some music!
[Re-enter
ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN]
GUILDENSTERN Good
my lord, vouchsafe me a word with you.
HAMLET Sir,
a whole history.
GUILDENSTERN The
king, sir,--
HAMLET Ay,
sir, what of him?
GUILDENSTERN Is
in his retirement marvellous distempered.
HAMLET With
drink, sir?
GUILDENSTERN No,
my lord, rather with choler.
HAMLET Your
wisdom should show itself more richer to
signify
this to his doctor; for, for me to put him
to
his purgation would perhaps plunge him into far
more
choler.
GUILDENSTERN Good
my lord, put your discourse into some frame and
start
not so wildly from my affair.
HAMLET I
am tame, sir: pronounce.
GUILDENSTERN The
queen, your mother, in most great affliction of
spirit,
hath sent me to you.
HAMLET You
are welcome.
GUILDENSTERN Nay,
good my lord, this courtesy is not of the right
breed.
If it shall please you to make me a
wholesome
answer, I will do your mother's
commandment:
if not, your pardon and my return
shall
be the end of my business.
HAMLET Sir,
I cannot.
GUILDENSTERN What,
my lord?
HAMLET Make
you a wholesome answer; my wit's diseased: but,
sir,
such answer as I can make, you shall command;
or,
rather, as you say, my mother: therefore no
more,
but to the matter: my mother, you say,--
ROSENCRANTZ Then
thus she says; your behavior hath struck her
into
amazement and admiration.
HAMLET O
wonderful son, that can so astonish a mother! But
is
there no sequel at the heels of this mother's
admiration?
Impart.
ROSENCRANTZ She
desires to speak with you in her closet, ere you
go
to bed.
HAMLET We
shall obey, were she ten times our mother. Have
you
any further trade with us?
ROSENCRANTZ My
lord, you once did love me.
HAMLET So
I do still, by these pickers and stealers.
ROSENCRANTZ Good
my lord, what is your cause of distemper? you
do,
surely, bar the door upon your own liberty, if
you
deny your griefs to your friend.
HAMLET Sir,
I lack advancement.
ROSENCRANTZ How
can that be, when you have the voice of the king
himself
for your succession in
HAMLET Ay,
but sir, 'While the grass grows,'--the proverb
is
something musty.
[Re-enter
Players with recorders]
O,
the recorders! let me see one. To withdraw with
you:--why
do you go about to recover the wind of me,
as
if you would drive me into a toil?
GUILDENSTERN O,
my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is too
unmannerly.
HAMLET I
do not well understand that. Will you play upon
this
pipe?
GUILDENSTERN My
lord, I cannot.
HAMLET I
pray you.
GUILDENSTERN Believe
me, I cannot.
HAMLET I
do beseech you.
GUILDENSTERN I
know no touch of it, my lord.
HAMLET 'Tis
as easy as lying: govern these ventages with
your
lingers and thumb, give it breath with your
mouth,
and it will discourse most eloquent music.
Look
you, these are the stops.
GUILDENSTERN But
these cannot I command to any utterance of
harmony;
I have not the skill.
HAMLET Why,
look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of
me!
You would play upon me; you would seem to know
my
stops; you would pluck out the heart of my
mystery;
you would sound me from my lowest note to
the
top of my compass: and there is much music,
excellent
voice, in this little organ; yet cannot
you
make it speak. 'Sblood, do you think I am
easier
to be played on than a pipe? Call me what
instrument
you will, though you can fret me, yet you
cannot
play upon me.
[Enter
POLONIUS]
God
bless you, sir!
LORD POLONIUS My
lord, the queen would speak with you, and
presently.
HAMLET Do
you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel?
LORD POLONIUS By
the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed.
HAMLET Methinks
it is like a weasel.
LORD POLONIUS It
is backed like a weasel.
HAMLET Or
like a whale?
LORD POLONIUS Very
like a whale.
HAMLET Then
I will come to my mother by and by. They fool
me
to the top of my bent. I will come by and by.
LORD POLONIUS I
will say so.
HAMLET By
and by is easily said.
[Exit
POLONIUS]
Leave
me, friends.
[Exeunt
all but HAMLET]
Tis
now the very witching time of night,
When
churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion
to this world: now could I drink hot blood,
And
do such bitter business as the day
Would
quake to look on. Soft! now to my mother.
O
heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever
The
soul of Nero enter this firm bosom:
Let
me be cruel, not unnatural:
I
will speak daggers to her, but use none;
My
tongue and soul in this be hypocrites;
How
in my words soever she be shent,
To
give them seals never, my soul, consent!
[Exit]
A
room in the castle.
[Enter
KING CLAUDIUS, ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDENSTERN]
KING CLAUDIUS I
like him not, nor stands it safe with us
To
let his madness range. Therefore prepare you;
I
your commission will forthwith dispatch,
And
he to
The
terms of our estate may not endure
Hazard
so dangerous as doth hourly grow
Out
of his lunacies.
GUILDENSTERN We
will ourselves provide:
Most
holy and religious fear it is
To
keep those many many bodies safe
That
live and feed upon your majesty.
ROSENCRANTZ The
single and peculiar life is bound,
With
all the strength and armour of the mind,
To
keep itself from noyance; but much more
That
spirit upon whose weal depend and rest
The
lives of many. The cease of majesty
Dies
not alone; but, like a gulf, doth draw
What's
near it with it: it is a massy wheel,
Fix'd
on the summit of the highest mount,
To
whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things
Are
mortised and adjoin'd; which, when it falls,
Each
small annexment, petty consequence,
Attends
the boisterous ruin. Never alone
Did
the king sigh, but with a general groan.
KING CLAUDIUS Arm
you, I pray you, to this speedy voyage;
For
we will fetters put upon this fear,
Which
now goes too free-footed.
ROSENCRANTZ |
| We will haste us.
GUILDENSTERN |
[Exeunt
ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN]
[Enter
POLONIUS]
LORD POLONIUS My
lord, he's going to his mother's closet:
Behind
the arras I'll convey myself,
To
hear the process; and warrant she'll tax him home:
And,
as you said, and wisely was it said,
'Tis
meet that some more audience than a mother,
Since
nature makes them partial, should o'erhear
The
speech, of vantage. Fare you well, my liege:
I'll
call upon you ere you go to bed,
And
tell you what I know.
KING CLAUDIUS Thanks,
dear my lord.
[Exit
POLONIUS]
O,
my offence is rank it smells to heaven;
It
hath the primal eldest curse upon't,
A
brother's murder. Pray can I not,
Though
inclination be as sharp as will:
My
stronger guilt defeats my strong intent;
And,
like a man to double business bound,
I
stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And
both neglect. What if this cursed hand
Were
thicker than itself with brother's blood,
Is
there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
To
wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy
But
to confront the visage of offence?
And
what's in prayer but this two-fold force,
To
be forestalled ere we come to fall,
Or
pardon'd being down? Then I'll look up;
My
fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer
Can
serve my turn? 'Forgive me my foul murder'?
That
cannot be; since I am still possess'd
Of
those effects for which I did the murder,
My
crown, mine own ambition and my queen.
May
one be pardon'd and retain the offence?
In
the corrupted currents of this world
Offence's
gilded hand may shove by justice,
And
oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself
Buys
out the law: but 'tis not so above;
There
is no shuffling, there the action lies
In
his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd,
Even
to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To
give in evidence. What then? what rests?
Try
what repentance can: what can it not?
Yet
what can it when one can not repent?
O
wretched state! O bosom black as death!
O
limed soul, that, struggling to be free,
Art
more engaged! Help, angels! Make assay!
Bow,
stubborn knees; and, heart with strings of steel,
Be
soft as sinews of the newborn babe!
All
may be well.
[Retires
and kneels]
[Enter
HAMLET]
HAMLET Now
might I do it pat, now he is praying;
And
now I'll do't. And so he goes to heaven;
And
so am I revenged. That would be scann'd:
A
villain kills my father; and for that,
I,
his sole son, do this same villain send
To
heaven.
O,
this is hire and salary, not revenge.
He
took my father grossly, full of bread;
With
all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May;
And
how his audit stands who knows save heaven?
But
in our circumstance and course of thought,
'Tis
heavy with him: and am I then revenged,
To
take him in the purging of his soul,
When
he is fit and season'd for his passage?
No!
Up,
sword; and know thou a more horrid hent:
When
he is drunk asleep, or in his rage,
Or
in the incestuous pleasure of his bed;
At
gaming, swearing, or about some act
That
has no relish of salvation in't;
Then
trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven,
And
that his soul may be as damn'd and black
As
hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays:
This
physic but prolongs thy sickly days.
[Exit]
KING CLAUDIUS [Rising] My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words
without thoughts never to heaven go.
[Exit]
The
Queen's closet.
[Enter
QUEEN GERTRUDE and POLONIUS]
LORD POLONIUS He
will come straight. Look you lay home to him:
Tell
him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,
And
that your grace hath screen'd and stood between
Much
heat and him. I'll sconce me even here.
Pray
you, be round with him.
HAMLET [Within] Mother, mother, mother!
QUEEN GERTRUDE I'll
warrant you,
Fear
me not: withdraw, I hear him coming.
[POLONIUS
hides behind the arras]
[Enter
HAMLET]
HAMLET Now,
mother, what's the matter?
QUEEN GERTRUDE Hamlet,
thou hast thy father much offended.
HAMLET Mother,
you have my father much offended.
QUEEN GERTRUDE Come,
come, you answer with an idle tongue.
HAMLET Go,
go, you question with a wicked tongue.
QUEEN GERTRUDE Why,
how now, Hamlet!
HAMLET What's
the matter now?
QUEEN GERTRUDE Have
you forgot me?
HAMLET No,
by the rood, not so:
You
are the queen, your husband's brother's wife;
And--would
it were not so!--you are my mother.
QUEEN GERTRUDE Nay,
then, I'll set those to you that can speak.
HAMLET Come,
come, and sit you down; you shall not budge;
You
go not till I set you up a glass
Where
you may see the inmost part of you.
QUEEN GERTRUDE What
wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?
Help,
help, ho!
LORD POLONIUS [Behind] What, ho! help, help, help!
HAMLET [Drawing] How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!
[Makes
a pass through the arras]
LORD POLONIUS [Behind] O, I am slain!
[Falls
and dies]
QUEEN GERTRUDE O
me, what hast thou done?
HAMLET Nay,
I know not:
Is
it the king?
QUEEN GERTRUDE O,
what a rash and bloody deed is this!
HAMLET A
bloody deed! almost as bad, good mother,
As
kill a king, and marry with his brother.
QUEEN GERTRUDE As
kill a king!
HAMLET Ay, lady, 'twas my word.
[Lifts
up the array and discovers POLONIUS]
Thou
wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!
I
took thee for thy better: take thy fortune;
Thou
find'st to be too busy is some danger.
Leave
wringing of your hands: peace! sit you down,
And
let me wring your heart; for so I shall,
If
it be made of penetrable stuff,
If
damned custom have not brass'd it so
That
it is proof and bulwark against sense.
QUEEN GERTRUDE What
have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue
In
noise so rude against me?
HAMLET Such
an act
That
blurs the grace and blush of modesty,
Calls
virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose
From
the fair forehead of an innocent love
And
sets a blister there, makes marriage-vows
As
false as dicers' oaths: O, such a deed
As
from the body of contraction plucks
The
very soul, and sweet religion makes
A
rhapsody of words: heaven's face doth glow:
Yea,
this solidity and compound mass,
With
tristful visage, as against the doom,
Is
thought-sick at the act.
QUEEN GERTRUDE Ay
me, what act,
That
roars so loud, and thunders in the index?
HAMLET Look
here, upon this picture, and on this,
The
counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See,
what a grace was seated on this brow;
Hyperion's
curls; the front of Jove himself;
An
eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A
station like the herald Mercury
New-lighted
on a heaven-kissing hill;
A
combination and a form indeed,
Where
every god did seem to set his seal,
To
give the world assurance of a man:
This
was your husband. Look you now, what follows:
Here
is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,
Blasting
his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could
you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And
batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?
You
cannot call it love; for at your age
The
hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,
And
waits upon the judgment: and what judgment
Would
step from this to this? Sense, sure, you have,
Else
could you not have motion; but sure, that sense
Is
apoplex'd; for madness would not err,
Nor
sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'd
But
it reserved some quantity of choice,
To
serve in such a difference. What devil was't
That
thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes
without feeling, feeling without sight,
Ears
without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,
Or
but a sickly part of one true sense
Could
not so mope.
O
shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,
If
thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,
To
flaming youth let virtue be as wax,
And
melt in her own fire: proclaim no shame
When
the compulsive ardour gives the charge,
Since
frost itself as actively doth burn
And
reason panders will.
QUEEN GERTRUDE O
Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou
turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;
And
there I see such black and grained spots
As
will not leave their tinct.
HAMLET Nay,
but to live
In
the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,
Stew'd
in corruption, honeying and making love
Over
the nasty sty,--
QUEEN GERTRUDE O,
speak to me no more;
These
words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;
No
more, sweet Hamlet!
HAMLET A
murderer and a villain;
A
slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of
your precedent lord; a vice of kings;
A
cutpurse of the empire and the rule,
That
from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And
put it in his pocket!
QUEEN GERTRUDE No
more!
HAMLET A
king of shreds and patches,--
[Enter
Ghost]
Save
me, and hover o'er me with your wings,
You
heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?
QUEEN GERTRUDE Alas,
he's mad!
HAMLET Do
you not come your tardy son to chide,
That,
lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
The
important acting of your dread command? O, say!
Ghost Do
not forget: this visitation
Is
but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But,
look, amazement on thy mother sits:
O,
step between her and her fighting soul:
Conceit
in weakest bodies strongest works:
Speak
to her, Hamlet.
HAMLET How
is it with you, lady?
QUEEN GERTRUDE Alas,
how is't with you,
That
you do bend your eye on vacancy
And
with the incorporal air do hold discourse?
Forth
at your eyes your spirits wildly peep;
And,
as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm,
Your
bedded hair, like life in excrements,
Starts
up, and stands on end. O gentle son,
Upon
the heat and flame of thy distemper
Sprinkle
cool patience. Whereon do you look?
HAMLET On
him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares!
His
form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,
Would
make them capable. Do not look upon me;
Lest
with this piteous action you convert
My
stern effects: then what I have to do
Will
want true colour; tears perchance for blood.
QUEEN GERTRUDE To
whom do you speak this?
HAMLET Do
you see nothing there?
QUEEN GERTRUDE Nothing
at all; yet all that is I see.
HAMLET Nor
did you nothing hear?
QUEEN GERTRUDE No,
nothing but ourselves.
HAMLET Why,
look you there! look, how it steals away!
My
father, in his habit as he lived!
Look,
where he goes, even now, out at the portal!
[Exit
Ghost]
QUEEN GERTRUDE This
the very coinage of your brain:
This
bodiless creation ecstasy
Is
very cunning in.
HAMLET Ecstasy!
My
pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And
makes as healthful music: it is not madness
That
I have utter'd: bring me to the test,
And
I the matter will re-word; which madness
Would
gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay
not that mattering unction to your soul,
That
not your trespass, but my madness speaks:
It
will but skin and film the ulcerous place,
Whilst
rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects
unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;
Repent
what's past; avoid what is to come;
And
do not spread the compost on the weeds,
To
make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue;
For
in the fatness of these pursy times
Virtue
itself of vice must pardon beg,
Yea,
curb and woo for leave to do him good.
QUEEN GERTRUDE O
Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
HAMLET O,
throw away the worser part of it,
And
live the purer with the other half.
Good
night: but go not to mine uncle's bed;
Assume
a virtue, if you have it not.
That
monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of
habits devil, is angel yet in this,
That
to the use of actions fair and good
He
likewise gives a frock or livery,
That
aptly is put on. Refrain to-night,
And
that shall lend a kind of easiness
To
the next abstinence: the next more easy;
For
use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And
either curb the devil, or throw him out
With
wondrous potency. Once more, good night:
And
when you are desirous to be bless'd,
I'll
blessing beg of you. For this same lord,
[Pointing
to POLONIUS]
I
do repent: but heaven hath pleased it so,
To
punish me with this and this with me,
That
I must be their scourge and minister.
I
will bestow him, and will answer well
The
death I gave him. So, again, good night.
I
must be cruel, only to be kind:
Thus
bad begins and worse remains behind.
One
word more, good lady.
QUEEN GERTRUDE What
shall I do?
HAMLET Not
this, by no means, that I bid you do:
Let
the bloat king tempt you again to bed;
Pinch
wanton on your cheek; call you his mouse;
And
let him, for a pair of reechy kisses,
Or
paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers,
Make
you to ravel all this matter out,
That
I essentially am not in madness,
But
mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know;
For
who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would
from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
Such
dear concernings hide? who would do so?
No,
in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg
the basket on the house's top.
Let
the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,
To
try conclusions, in the basket creep,
And
break your own neck down.
QUEEN GERTRUDE Be
thou assured, if words be made of breath,
And
breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What
thou hast said to me.
HAMLET I
must to
QUEEN GERTRUDE Alack,
I
had forgot: 'tis so concluded on.
HAMLET There's
letters seal'd: and my two schoolfellows,
Whom
I will trust as I will adders fang'd,
They
bear the mandate; they must sweep my way,
And
marshal me to knavery. Let it work;
For
'tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist
with his own petard: and 't shall go hard
But
I will delve one yard below their mines,
And
blow them at the moon: O, 'tis most sweet,
When
in one line two crafts directly meet.
This
man shall set me packing:
I'll
lug the guts into the neighbour room.
Mother,
good night. Indeed this counsellor
Is
now most still, most secret and most grave,
Who
was in life a foolish prating knave.
Come,
sir, to draw toward an end with you.
Good
night, mother.
[Exeunt
severally; HAMLET dragging in POLONIUS]
A
room in the castle.
[Enter
KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, ROSENCRANTZ,
and
GUILDENSTERN]
KING CLAUDIUS There's
matter in these sighs, these profound heaves:
You
must translate: 'tis fit we understand them.
Where
is your son?
QUEEN GERTRUDE Bestow
this place on us a little while.
[Exeunt
ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN]
Ah,
my good lord, what have I seen to-night!
KING CLAUDIUS What,
Gertrude? How does Hamlet?
QUEEN GERTRUDE Mad
as the sea and wind, when both contend
Which
is the mightier: in his lawless fit,
Behind
the arras hearing something stir,
Whips
out his rapier, cries, 'A rat, a rat!'
And,
in this brainish apprehension, kills
The
unseen good old man.
KING CLAUDIUS O
heavy deed!
It
had been so with us, had we been there:
His
liberty is full of threats to all;
To
you yourself, to us, to every one.
Alas,
how shall this bloody deed be answer'd?
It
will be laid to us, whose providence
Should
have kept short, restrain'd and out of haunt,
This
mad young man: but so much was our love,
We
would not understand what was most fit;
But,
like the owner of a foul disease,
To
keep it from divulging, let it feed
Even
on the pith of Life. Where is he gone?
QUEEN GERTRUDE To
draw apart the body he hath kill'd:
O'er
whom his very madness, like some ore
Among
a mineral of metals base,
Shows
itself pure; he weeps for what is done.
KING CLAUDIUS O
Gertrude, come away!
The
sun no sooner shall the mountains touch,
But
we will ship him hence: and this vile deed
We
must, with all our majesty and skill,
Both
countenance and excuse. Ho, Guildenstern!
[Re-enter
ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN]
Friends
both, go join you with some further aid:
Hamlet
in madness hath Polonius slain,
And
from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd him:
Go
seek him out; speak fair, and bring the body
Into
the chapel. I pray you, haste in this.
[Exeunt
ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN]
Come,
Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends;
And
let them know, both what we mean to do,
And
what's untimely done; so haply slander,
Whose
whisper o'er the world's diameter,
As
level as the cannon to his blank,
Transports
his poison'd shot, may miss our name,
And
hit the woundless air. O, come away!
My
soul is full of discord and dismay.
[Exeunt]
Another
room in the castle.
[Enter
HAMLET]
HAMLET Safely
stowed.
ROSENCRANTZ: |
| [Within]
Hamlet! Lord Hamlet!
GUILDENSTERN: |
HAMLET What
noise? who calls on Hamlet?
O,
here they come.
[Enter
ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN]
ROSENCRANTZ What
have you done, my lord, with the dead body?
HAMLET Compounded
it with dust, whereto 'tis kin.
ROSENCRANTZ Tell
us where 'tis, that we may take it thence
And
bear it to the chapel.
HAMLET Do
not believe it.
ROSENCRANTZ Believe
what?
HAMLET That
I can keep your counsel and not mine own.
Besides,
to be demanded of a sponge! what
replication
should be made by the son of a king?
ROSENCRANTZ Take
you me for a sponge, my lord?
HAMLET Ay,
sir, that soaks up the king's countenance, his
rewards,
his authorities. But such officers do the
king
best service in the end: he keeps them, like
an
ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouthed, to
be
last swallowed: when he needs what you have
gleaned,
it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you
shall
be dry again.
ROSENCRANTZ I
understand you not, my lord.
HAMLET I
am glad of it: a knavish speech sleeps in a
foolish
ear.
ROSENCRANTZ My
lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go
with
us to the king.
HAMLET The
body is with the king, but the king is not with
the
body. The king is a thing--
GUILDENSTERN A
thing, my lord!
HAMLET Of
nothing: bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after.
[Exeunt]
Another
room in the castle.
[Enter
KING CLAUDIUS, attended]
KING CLAUDIUS I
have sent to seek him, and to find the body.
How
dangerous is it that this man goes loose!
Yet
must not we put the strong law on him:
He's
loved of the distracted multitude,
Who
like not in their judgment, but their eyes;
And
where tis so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd,
But
never the offence. To bear all smooth and even,
This
sudden sending him away must seem
Deliberate
pause: diseases desperate grown
By
desperate appliance are relieved,
Or
not at all.
[Enter
ROSENCRANTZ]
How
now! what hath befall'n?
ROSENCRANTZ Where
the dead body is bestow'd, my lord,
We
cannot get from him.
KING CLAUDIUS But
where is he?
ROSENCRANTZ Without,
my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure.
KING CLAUDIUS Bring
him before us.
ROSENCRANTZ Ho,
Guildenstern! bring in my lord.
[Enter
HAMLET and GUILDENSTERN]
KING CLAUDIUS Now,
Hamlet, where's Polonius?
HAMLET At
supper.
KING CLAUDIUS At
supper! where?
HAMLET Not
where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain
convocation
of politic worms are e'en at him. Your
worm
is your only emperor for diet: we fat all
creatures
else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for
maggots:
your fat king and your lean beggar is but
variable
service, two dishes, but to one table:
that's
the end.
KING CLAUDIUS Alas,
alas!
HAMLET A
man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a
king,
and cat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
KING CLAUDIUS What
dost you mean by this?
HAMLET Nothing
but to show you how a king may go a
progress
through the guts of a beggar.
KING CLAUDIUS Where
is Polonius?
HAMLET In
heaven; send hither to see: if your messenger
find
him not there, seek him i' the other place
yourself.
But indeed, if you find him not within
this
month, you shall nose him as you go up the
stairs
into the lobby.
KING CLAUDIUS Go
seek him there.
[To
some Attendants]
HAMLET He
will stay till ye come.
[Exeunt
Attendants]
KING CLAUDIUS Hamlet,
this deed, for thine especial safety,--
Which
we do tender, as we dearly grieve
For
that which thou hast done,--must send thee hence
With
fiery quickness: therefore prepare thyself;
The
bark is ready, and the wind at help,
The
associates tend, and every thing is bent
For
HAMLET For
KING CLAUDIUS Ay,
Hamlet.
HAMLET Good.
KING CLAUDIUS So
is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.
HAMLET I
see a cherub that sees them. But, come; for
KING CLAUDIUS Thy
loving father, Hamlet.
HAMLET My
mother: father and mother is man and wife; man
and
wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for
[Exit]
KING CLAUDIUS Follow
him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard;
Delay
it not; I'll have him hence to-night:
Away!
for every thing is seal'd and done
That
else leans on the affair: pray you, make haste.
[Exeunt
ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN]
And,
As
my great power thereof may give thee sense,
Since
yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
After
the Danish sword, and thy free awe
Pays
homage to us--thou mayst not coldly set
Our
sovereign process; which imports at full,
By
letters congruing to that effect,
The
present death of Hamlet. Do it,
For
like the hectic in my blood he rages,
And
thou must cure me: till I know 'tis done,
Howe'er
my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.
[Exit]
A
plain in
[Enter
FORTINBRAS, a Captain, and Soldiers, marching]
PRINCE FORTINBRAS Go,
captain, from me greet the Danish king;
Tell
him that, by his licence, Fortinbras
Craves
the conveyance of a promised march
Over
his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.
If
that his majesty would aught with us,
We
shall express our duty in his eye;
And
let him know so.
Captain I
will do't, my lord.
PRINCE FORTINBRAS Go
softly on.
[Exeunt
FORTINBRAS and Soldiers]
[Enter
HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and others]
HAMLET Good
sir, whose powers are these?
Captain They
are of
HAMLET How
purposed, sir, I pray you?
Captain Against
some part of
HAMLET Who
commands them, sir?
Captain The
nephews to old
HAMLET Goes
it against the main of
Or
for some frontier?
Captain Truly
to speak, and with no addition,
We
go to gain a little patch of ground
That
hath in it no profit but the name.
To
pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;
Nor
will it yield to
A
ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.
HAMLET Why,
then the Polack never will defend it.
Captain Yes,
it is already garrison'd.
HAMLET Two
thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats
Will
not debate the question of this straw:
This
is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,
That
inward breaks, and shows no cause without
Why
the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.
Captain God
be wi' you, sir.
[Exit]
ROSENCRANTZ Wilt
please you go, my lord?
HAMLET I'll
be with you straight go a little before.
[Exeunt
all except HAMLET]
How
all occasions do inform against me,
And
spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If
his chief good and market of his time
Be
but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.
Sure,
he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking
before and after, gave us not
That
capability and god-like reason
To
fust in us unused. Now, whether it be
Bestial
oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of
thinking too precisely on the event,
A
thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom
And
ever three parts coward, I do not know
Why
yet I live to say 'This thing's to do;'
Sith
I have cause and will and strength and means
To
do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me:
Witness
this army of such mass and charge
Led
by a delicate and tender prince,
Whose
spirit with divine ambition puff'd
Makes
mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing
what is mortal and unsure
To
all that fortune, death and danger dare,
Even
for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great
Is
not to stir without great argument,
But
greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When
honour's at the stake. How stand I then,
That
have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,
Excitements
of my reason and my blood,
And
let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see
The
imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That,
for a fantasy and trick of fame,
Go
to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon
the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which
is not tomb enough and continent
To
hide the slain? O, from this time forth,
My
thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!
[Exit]
[Enter
QUEEN GERTRUDE, HORATIO, and a Gentleman]
QUEEN GERTRUDE I
will not speak with her.
Gentleman She
is importunate, indeed distract:
Her
mood will needs be pitied.
QUEEN GERTRUDE What
would she have?
Gentleman She
speaks much of her father; says she hears
There's
tricks i' the world; and hems, and beats her heart;
Spurns
enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt,
That
carry but half sense: her speech is nothing,
Yet
the unshaped use of it doth move
The
hearers to collection; they aim at it,
And
botch the words up fit to their own thoughts;
Which,
as her winks, and nods, and gestures
yield
them,
Indeed
would make one think there might be thought,
Though
nothing sure, yet much unhappily.
HORATIO 'Twere
good she were spoken with; for she may strew
Dangerous
conjectures in ill-breeding minds.
QUEEN GERTRUDE Let
her come in.
[Exit
HORATIO]
To
my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,
Each
toy seems prologue to some great amiss:
So
full of artless jealousy is guilt,
It
spills itself in fearing to be spilt.
[Re-enter
HORATIO, with OPHELIA]
OPHELIA Where
is the beauteous majesty of
QUEEN GERTRUDE How
now, Ophelia!
OPHELIA [Sings]
How
should I your true love know
From
another one?
By
his cockle hat and staff,
And
his sandal shoon.
QUEEN GERTRUDE Alas,
sweet lady, what imports this song?
OPHELIA Say
you? nay, pray you, mark.
[Sings]
He
is dead and gone, lady,
He
is dead and gone;
At
his head a grass-green turf,
At
his heels a stone.
QUEEN GERTRUDE Nay,
but, Ophelia,--
OPHELIA Pray
you, mark.
[Sings]
White
his shroud as the mountain snow,--
[Enter
KING CLAUDIUS]
QUEEN GERTRUDE Alas,
look here, my lord.
OPHELIA [Sings]
Larded
with sweet flowers
Which
bewept to the grave did go
With
true-love showers.
KING CLAUDIUS How
do you, pretty lady?
OPHELIA Well,
God 'ild you! They say the owl was a baker's
daughter.
Lord, we know what we are, but know not
what
we may be. God be at your table!
KING CLAUDIUS Conceit
upon her father.
OPHELIA Pray
you, let's have no words of this; but when they
ask
you what it means, say you this:
[Sings]
To-morrow
is Saint Valentine's day,
All
in the morning betime,
And
I a maid at your window,
To
be your Valentine.
Then
up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
And
dupp'd the chamber-door;
Let
in the maid, that out a maid